We Need You Around
by fragrantpharaoh
Summary: When a ghostly alien race comes to the Hinata house to recruit Kululu, the platoon reluctantly lets him go. After encountering a problem that only Kululu can fix, they set off for the strange planet to convince him to come back. But they soon realize that it's a more dangerous mission than they thought...
1. Chapter 1

**Ta-dahhh! A whole new story! (don't worry, tho, I didn't forget about Corporal, I'll be uploading a new chapter for that soon :P)**

 **This time, it's a collab with my sister BenignTuna. We started writing this over a year ago, and it's been an (almost) continuous effort since then. We've dedicated a _lot_ of time and hard work to this fic (it's really long). **

**I have a few things for you to keep in mind before you start reading, and they're very important so don't skip it!**

 **First, you may notice that Angol Mois is not present or mentioned at all in this fanfiction. That's because my sister and I (and our mom!) all hate Mois like poison and just couldn't bring ourselves to include her. If you've read my other story, you'll notice that she's missing from that one too. This is due to the same reason. If you don't like her either, then rejoice! You don't have to read anything relating to her! If you do like her, then I guess you can just pretend that she's visiting her dad or something.**

 **Second, though it is in NO WAY the focus of our story, KeroTama is presented as being canon. This is because my sister and I ship it like FedEx and wanted it to be a part of it. If you do not personally ship it, don't worry! It's not a big part of it and there is little to no time spent on that alone and just a very small amount of actual fluff for it.**

 **Third! We are using gijinkas to write this, due to personal preference.**

 **(The cover for this fic was commissioned for me by Jinxitis on deviantart)**

* * *

The theme of Keroro's favorite show, _Captain Geroro_ , began playing on the television and he twisted in his seat to lean over the couch.  
"Giroro!" he called. "If you don't get over here quick you're going to miss the new opening!" He turned back around and grinned excitedly at Tamama, who sat close to him on the couch with his hand resting on the sergeant's thigh. Dororo sat next to them, perched on an armrest.

Giroro, who had been sitting on the back porch cleaning a gun, tossed the cloth aside and crossed through the kitchen into the living room, holstering his weapon as he did so. Not entirely able to hide the eager look on his face, he took a seat opposite Keroro on the other couch and began watching the intro without a word.

Keroro nodded in approval and settled back into the couch. This was the beginning of the final season of _Captain Geroro_ , and it was considered by him to be a monumental event in Pekoponian history that deserved attention and respect.

He briefly scanned the room to make sure his whole platoon was there and noticed that someone was missing. As usual, Kululu was not up in the house, but presumably down in the underground base.

"Agh!" exclaimed Keroro. "Where's Kululu? Doesn't he realize how important this moment is?" He turned his attention back to the screen, however, because the episode was starting. He grasped Tamama's hand.

"You know he doesn't really care that much about the show, though, Sarge," said Tamama, giving Keroro's fingers a squeeze.

"He cares!" Keroro insisted.

Kululu did not appear before the first break, but Keroro was so engrossed that he did not notice his absence again.

"This is a good episode, huh, Sarge?" asked Tamama while a commercial for toothpaste played.

Keroro was biting his shirt and it looked like he had a tear in his eye. " _Yes_ ," he squeaked.

Giroro stood to stretch, watching Keroro wipe his eyes on his damp shirtfront for a moment, and then he caught sight of Dororo out of the corner of his eye.

The lance corporal's head was inclined slightly; a small frown creased his forehead. Giroro had known him long enough to recognize the signs that Dororo's acute senses were picking up on something out of the ordinary.

Giroro glanced again at Keroro and Tamama, but they were too busy talking about the show to notice that something was wrong. He walked around the coffee table to Dororo and leaned down slightly so that they were eye to eye. "What is it?" he asked in an undertone.

Dororo quietly shushed him and closed his eyes, listening.

Suddenly he jumped up and faced the door to the hallway, his hand on his sword; almost simultaneously, Giroro pointed his gun in the same direction.

Keroro and Tamama stared at the pair of them, alarmed. The room was utterly quiet; everyone was holding his breath. Then, barely perceptible, a slow, dragging sound reached them from the hallway, and the intruder finally revealed itself.

It appeared in the doorway like a ghost: a hulking, pale creature with immense black eyes. It didn't look as though it saw the sun very often, and it had no visible mouth; only wide, staring eyes. It was standing very still.

They gazed at the thing with apprehension. The Keronians had encountered hundreds of aliens over the years, hailing from planets from all over the universe, but never had they met one that looked like this.

"... What the hell?" Giroro muttered to himself. From where he stood, he could see that the others disliked the creature as much as he did. Dororo was grasping his katana so tightly that his knuckles were as white as the figure, Keroro was standing rigidly with his mouth slightly ajar, and Tamama was squinting at the alien in confusion.

The private tore his eyes from it for a few moments to look at Keroro and ask, "Sarge... what is that...?"

Keroro seemed to steel himself, and then jumped up and demanded in a challenging tone, "Who are you?", his finger pointed at the giant.

As he said this, two more of the creatures appeared behind the first one. Giroro noticed with great irritation that his arm holding the gun was trembling slightly.

The aliens stared relentlessly, making the Keronians' skins prickle, until finally the frontmost creature began to speak. Or maybe it didn't. It was hard to tell, because it almost sounded as though its voice was coming from inside their own heads.

"We are the Rurlough," it said slowly. The voice was deep and creaky. It sounded ancient, and as though it had not spoken in a very long time.

"Why are you here?" Keroro asked in the same demanding tone, a tight frown on his face. But before the thing had time to respond, Natsumi and Fuyuki Hinata came down the stairs in the hallway, chatting.

"I just honestly don't think that The Lochness Monster is involved in any cults, Fuyu- OH GOD WHAT'S THAT?!" Natsumi said, abruptly shouting the last words as she spotted the Rurlough.

The platoon could see that a fourth Rurlough had appeared and was standing at the foot of the stairs, staring at the Hinatas.

 _Turn back around, Natsumi,_ Giroro prayed, his heart pounding in his throat with horror. _Please, just go back upstairs..._

"Whoa...," Fuyuki said, sounding both awestruck and terrified. The Rurlough gazed back at him, and then took the first step up the staircase.

Panic flooded Giroro's mind. " _If you take one more step towards them, I'll put a bullet through your goddamn skull!_ " he yelled fiercely.  
The Rurlough on the stairs turned to face the corporal, and then, with its eyes still locked on him, slowly stepped back down to the floor.

"You bastards better get the hell out right now or you'll be sorry!" Tamama hissed vehemently at them, stepping forward.

"Where is Sergeant Major Kululu?" one of the Rurlough asked, ignoring Tamama.

"Kululu?" Keroro repeated, still frowning. "What do you want him for?"

"Where is Sergeant Major Kululu?" the same Rurlough asked again.

"You called?" a low voice asked. The platoon whipped around. Kululu had entered the house from the backyard and traipsed into the living room without their notice.

When the Rurlough spotted Kululu, a sharp clicking noise reminiscent of cracking one's knuckles resounded throughout the room as the white figures communicated with each other. The sound was dark and menacing. Keroro gave an involuntary shiver.

Kululu wandered over to one of the couches and leaned against it, gazing at the Rurlough through his glasses.

One of the beasts slowly approached Kululu. He leaned away slightly when it came near. The hulking figure slouched forward so that its face was even with Kululu's, and far too close for comfort.

After blankly staring at him for several seconds, the Rurlough spoke. "Are you Sergeant Major Kululu?" it asked in a monotone voice.

For a moment, Kululu was quiet. He seemed to be trying to decide how best to respond. He slowly took a little step back, so that he wasn't as close to the Rurlough and then said, "Yeah, that's me."

More bizarre clicking followed that. At length, the first Rurlough's guttural sounding voice whispered, "You will come with us now."

Kululu raised one of his eyebrows. The smug grin he always wore dropped slightly and he asked, "Why would I do that?" He took another half-step away.

This time one of the other Rurlough answered. "We have heard of your intelligence. We gathered information and found you. We require you. We offer an opportunity for you to use your mind to its full extent. You are being wasted here." At this the creature nearest Kululu turned and stared directly at Keroro.

A chill ran up Keroro's spine as the alien locked eyes with him, but anger made him bold. "You will not remove Sergeant Major Kululu from this base!" he said sternly. "You will leave this house and go back where you came from!"

The Rurlough that had been speaking came close to him and he shrank back slightly.

"Three revolutions of this planet have passed since it has been claimed by Keron," it said in a crackily voice. "And yet the planet remains under indigenous rule. This suggests that you admit failure. Your platoon is invalid." The last sentence was hardly more than a growl.

Kululu, who had merely been observing the exchange with an unreadable expression, remained silent, so Giroro spoke up. "What are you going to do if he doesn't go with you?" he asked. He briefly met Kululu's eyes. "What if he doesn't want to?"

One of the creatures slowly walked up to Giroro. When it was less than a foot away from him it stopped and said, "He would be foolish to refuse." It leaned in even closer. "The sergeant major will come with us."

"But Sergeant Major Kululu won't let you take him," said Dororo uncertainly.

Kululu didn't look at him. He shrugged. "Ku ku ku! Who knows? Maybe this would be a better gig for me." He turned his gaze downward and stuck his hands in his coat pockets. His face was paler than usual. Dororo looked shocked.

Giroro suddenly decided that the Rurlough in front of him was too close, and he pushed it away from him. The thing's skin was cold and a little clammy. It continued to stare at him but did not react.

"But you can't leave!" Keroro said, his voice rising.

After a few moments, Kululu chuckled softly and looked up at the Rurlough.

"Alright, I'll come with you."

The Rurlough clicked weirdly again, now sounding vaguely excited.

"You're going to just leave?" Giroro asked in disbelief.

"Why, corporal, you wouldn't _actually miss me,_ would you?" said Kululu sarcastically as he joined the Rurlough.

"You son of a bitch!" Giroro said incredulously. Kululu turned around and looked at him, with a smile that looked more like a grimace. "What, so after all we've been through with you, you're going to go off with these idiots?" He gestured to the Rurlough.

Kululu kept his back to Giroro when he replied, "Yeah. 'Bye!" He lifted his hand in farewell.

The Rurlough formed a tight, threatening group around him; one of them grabbed onto Kululu's upper arm. He recoiled as it touched him, but said nothing as it guided him out the door with the rest of the Rurlough.

A few tense seconds ticked by, and then Giroro impulsively darted after them into the hallway. They were gone. He looked up at the Hinatas, who still stood frozen on the stairs.

"They disappeared," Natsumi told Giroro in a trembling but clear voice. He nodded distractedly. It didn't really matter to him how they had left.

He returned to the living room. His companions were where he had left them, looking dumbfounded. The abandoned television program was still on in the background.

"He's gone?" asked Keroro.

"Yes," Giroro replied shortly. Tamama and Dororo continued staring at the doorway in disbelief. They couldn't even speak.

Keroro absently reached for Tamama, looking depressed. Tamama let Keroro's hand close around his own and gazed sympathetically up into the face he loved so much.

Giroro re-holstered his gun, closing his eyes and shaking his head. Half of him wanted to rage, but the other half felt relieved that he didn't have to deal with Kululu's idiosyncrasies anymore.

Then Keroro, still holding Tamama's hand, looked up and said with determination, "We have to go get him! We'll bring him back! Right, Giroro?" He turned to his friend.

The corporal looked at Keroro with something that might have been pity. "Keroro," he began. "You know we have no right to do that. He made his own choice. There's no point in getting him. We can get along without him just fine."

"But...!"

"At least we don't have to deal with any of his bullshit any more," Giroro added.

"Corporal!" Keroro exclaimed.

"If he wants to go, then we've got to let him."

Keroro looked down at his boyfriend and said, "Tamama, you're with me, right?"

"Of course, Sarge!" the private answered immediately.

Keroro turned back to Giroro triumphantly.

"Keroro, listen to me," insisted Giroro, "It'd be a waste of time to go get him. Just let it go, we don't really need him around anyway." He adjusted his belt and looked downward.

Suddenly they heard Fuyuki ask, "So what are we gonna do, Sarge?" The platoon were surprised to see Fuyuki and Natsumi in the doorway, where they must have been listening to the conversation quietly.

Keroro turned to them and shook his head. "I guess... we won't do anything," he responded.

Fuyuki exchanged a glance with his sister, possibly hoping that she would use her commanding personality to make the sergeant change his mind.

Natsumi looked back at Fuyuki. She wasn't sure how to feel. She didn't particularly like Kululu, because he was creepy and a little odd, but she did feel as though he was part of the family, just like all the others. And it definitely _would_ be strange not to have him around anymore.

She sat down on the couch and said, "I agree with Giroro. If Kululu doesn't want to stay with us any more, we shouldn't try and force him."

Giroro gave an appreciative grunt, but Keroro glared at Natsumi, feeling betrayed. Dororo, standing a little bit behind them, was as silent and pale as a shadow.

After a few minutes, Natsumi rose to go take a bath, wanting to remove herself from the heavy atmosphere of the room.

As she passed by Fuyuki she was careful not to look at him, not wanting to see the disappointment in his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Next chapter, yayyy~**

 **Be sure to leave a review :D**

* * *

Kululu was a reclusive individual, yet his absence was noticeable over the following weeks. In place of the gadget-related hijinks that so often caused a clamor in the Hinata household, there was a conspicuous, dull calm. The remaining members of the platoon were oddly quiet as well.

To Fuyuki, the whole thing didn't feel right.

One afternoon, he and Keroro were in Fuyuki's room, Keroro halfheartedly constructing a new Gundam model, and Fuyuki compiling research on his computer. The depression emanating from Keroro was almost tangible, and eventually Fuyuki could take it no longer.

"I'm going to go get some fresh air, Sarge. I'll be back later to see the finished product," he said, standing up.

Keroro gave a distracted wave and Fuyuki proceeded out the door. He went down the stairs headed out to the backyard, where Giroro was roasting a sweet potato as he often did late in the day.

"Hey, corporal," Fuyuki greeted.

"Hey, Fuyuki," replied Giroro flatly. He had been feeling subdued since Kululu took off, though he had no idea why he should. The sergeant major had been nothing but a nuisance to him.

Fuyuki sat down next to him and drew his knees up to his chest. Giroro was only vaguely aware of this, as he was having an internal battle with himself.

 _I wonder if Kululu is happier in his new job,_ part of his mind asked.

 _You don't care anyway, though, remember?!_ a second part insisted.

 _... Says the guy who's been down since he left,_ the first replied snarkily.

He gave his head a little shake and looked at Fuyuki. "What are you up to today, anyway?"

"Not much. The atmosphere of the house is weird and Sarge is depressed and I don't really feel like doing anything," responded Fuyuki, resting his chin on his knees sadly.

Giroro looked down at the fire. He pulled his potato out of the flames and poked it. It wasn't done yet, so back into the heat it went.

The two of them sat quietly together by the fire for a while before Giroro finally stood up and handed the stick to Fuyuki.

"I'm going to go talk to Keroro," he told him. "You know, just see how things are going... in the base and stuff." He opened the sliding glass door and stepped inside the house.

"Thanks. Alright."

* * *

Giroro went through the house and down to Keroro's room, but he did not find the sergeant there. Puzzled, he descended into the underground base and headed for the control room.

When he arrived he was startled to see that something was wrong. A red signal light was flashing and a shrill alarm was resounding off the walls. Keroro was sitting in his chair in a state of agitation.

"What's going on?!" Giroro asked.

"Something's wrong with the base!" shouted Keroro, looking livid. "All the controls are down!"

Giroro glanced up at Kululu's chair out of habit. He was who they really needed right now.

Giroro sprinted up to his own seat and peered up at the large holographic screen in front of him. It was going berserk: jumbled text danced wildly across it as it flashed red, casting the whole room in ominous light. Odd beeping sounds blared at the platoon from all directions. Giroro realized what was happening right as Tamama spoke it.

"Sarge, I think we're being hacked!" the young man shrieked from where he was at his station, staring in disbelief at the screen.

"AGH! BY WHO?!" Keroro yelled as code started appearing on the screen.

Giroro's eyes flicked back to Kululu's empty chair. If _he'd_ been there, they wouldn't have been hacked in the first place. Giroro gritted his teeth in frustration.

"That's it!" he shouted suddenly, and Keroro and Tamama looked up at him. "We have to go get Kululu! We can't do this without him. We've got to convince him to come back and help us."

Keroro exchanged a glance with Tamama before folding his arms and stamping his foot a little, scoffing. "Well, isn't that what I said we should do in the first place, corporal?" he asked crossly.

Just then Dororo descended from somewhere above them and landed lightly on his feet beside Giroro, who started.

"I disagree that we should bring Sergeant Major Kululu back," said Dororo sternly, speaking a bit louder than he ordinarily would have in order to be heard above the noise.

He might as well have not spoken at all, however, because Keroro hopped down off of his seat and proceeded as if there had been no interruption. "Right! We need to go to the planet of the Rurlough, then! We don't know what they need Kululu for or where they took him for sure, but at least it's a start."

There followed a few moments of silence that were only broken by the persistent beeping of the system. Not one among the four of them knew anything about the Rurlough's planet or its location.

Giroro exhaled and said, "To be honest, I was hardly aware that there was a race called the Rurlough at all before they came here. It's not exactly common knowledge." He thoughtfully wandered over to where the rest of them were standing and continued. "We're going to have to contact someone with more information about them..."

"Yessir! Do you know anyone who fits that description, corporal?" asked Keroro hopefully.

"My brother," Giroro answered, leaning up against the back of Keroro's chair and looking tense. "Garuru's pretty smart, and he's always known this kind of stuff."

"So we've got to find Garuru," derived Keroro, hitting his palm with his fist.

"Sounds like it," said Giroro. "Garuru and his platoon are currently stationed on a planet called Mepki."

Mepki, Dororo knew, was a nearby grassy planet inhabited by primitive, docile mole-like creatures. He began to comment on this, but was cut off by Keroro. "Then come on! We have to get Kululu back immediately!" the sergeant urged as he started to head out.

Within the hour, the four of them were departing from the earth in the ship they used for interstellar travel.

Weighing heavily on everyone's mind was the worry that they could not bring Kululu back in time to save their base.

* * *

 **Get 'em! Get 'em!  
**

 **Go get that SGM! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Next chapter~**

* * *

"So, what are your brother and his platoon doing there, Giroro?" asked Dororo as the ship left Earth's orbit. "Did the army send them to conquer the planet? I thought Keron wasn't focusing on that sector of space right now."

"No, they aren't there to conquer the planet, his platoon went to Mepki to train Tororo," replied Giroro. "From what Garuru told me, it sounds like Tororo was allowed to slide through basic training without really doing anything. The kid's a genius, but he doesn't know anything about survival or hand-to-hand combat."

"Oh, yeah. I remember that kid. He was Kululu's rival or whatever," said Keroro.

At the mention of Kululu's name, unease swept over the group like a cold wave.

Dororo folded his hands in his lap pensively. After a moment he said, "I hope he's alright..."

"I'm sure he's fine," said Giroro, staring out the window. "I doubt that these Rurlough are anything that he can't handle."

Keroro looked anxious though. His grip on the ship's steering wheel tightened. The rest of the trip was spent in silence.

Eventually a speck appeared in the distance, becoming larger and larger until it was evident that the platoon was rapidly approaching planet Mepki.

"Alright, Giroro, where are we landing?" Keroro finally asked when they entered the atmosphere.

Giroro gave him coordinates that he had sent for from Garuru before they left, and Keroro guided their ship safely to the ground.

Garuru was waiting for them. The platoon had not seen him in quite a while, but he looked exactly the same as he had the last time they had seen him.

As usual, he wore a dark purple uniform and his hard eyes were covered by yellow goggles. His mouth was a thin stern line, but his expression softened slightly when he saw Giroro.

Giroro, however, tensed up when he saw his brother. He moved stiffly as he and the others filed out of their ship and approached Garuru.

Without making direct eye contact, Giroro held out his hand and uttered nervously, "H-hey, Garuru..." He swallowed. "Um, long time, no see."

Garuru gripped his brother's hand and smiled lightly. "How have you been?" he said in a gruff but pleasant voice.

After the corporal had muttered an indiscernible reply, Garuru asked, "So, what was it you needed to talk to me about?"

"Well, it's... uh... it's kind of a long story, regarding one of our members," Giroro explained. "Do you remember Sergeant Major Kululu?"

"Yes," Garuru replied, squinting slightly and folding his arms over his chest in a way that very much resembled his brother.

"Well, a few weeks ago he left the platoon to work with the Rurlough," said Giroro, and Garuru's face became grim.

"But our base back on Pekopon was recently hacked, and none of us really know how to deal with it, since he usually handles this kind of stuff," Giroro continued. "All of our systems are down and we can barely do anything. Actually, it was really hard even to contact you, so we're trying to get to the Rurlough planet so that we can find him and convince him to rejoin the platoon."

The lieutenant, deep in thought, had his head tilted down and his hand at his mouth. "Going with them to their planet... What a foolish thing for him to do... ," he said darkly. Giroro remembered that the Rurlough had said the exact same thing about Kululu's _not_ going with them.

Garuru met Giroro's eyes and spoke in a low voice, "I can't say that I'm thrilled to know that you are going to such a dangerous planet, but I won't stop you." He folded his hands behind his back. "Come back to the base. I'll bring up a map."

He led the platoon across the grassy terrain. Situated not too far from their landing spot was a large green tent. Garuru approached it and held up the flap for the other four to pass through before entering it himself.

The dim light of the tent took a moment to adjust to. "Keroro! Everyone!" they heard a familiar voice greet.

The three eldest members of the platoon were delighted to see that it was their childhood friend Pururu. She was seated at a small table in the center of the tent next to a young Keronian they all recognized as Tororo.

"Pururu! It's nice to see you!" Keroro answered upon seeing the field medic. Pururu, whose pink hair was pulled back in a slightly frazzled-looking ponytail, had been wrapping Tororo's arm in gauze when they had entered.

Tororo had looked up for a moment when Pururu had greeted the platoon, but he was mostly preoccupied with staring at his injured arm in disgust.

"I'll be back with the map in a moment," Garuru said to his brother and promptly disappeared into another section of the tent.

While Garuru was gone, the platoon wandered idly around. Keroro and Dororo talked to Pururu while Tamama inspected some of the items scattered around: medical supplies, weapons, and other devices clearly meant to assist in Tororo's training.

Giroro sat down across from Tororo and asked, "What happened to your arm, soldier?"

Tororo scoffed and adjusted his glasses. "Nothing happened. I'm fine!"

"Fine?" Pururu interjected, overhearing this. "You were crying."

"No I wasn't!"

"He fell in a ditch and scraped up his arm pretty badly," she explained to the others.

Garuru then entered the room again. He was holding a tablet and typing something on the screen as he walked.

After a few seconds he looked up and said, "Okay, look here."

He laid the tablet on the table so that all of them could see it. Pictured on the screen was a strange planet. It looked dark and cold.

"So, that's the planet the Rurlough come from...," Dororo said quietly.

"It looks pretty creepy," Tamama added, looking at the planet apprehensively.

"How do we get there?" Giroro asked Garuru. "Where is it in relation to Mepki?"

"Far away," Garuru replied. He went on to describe in detail how to get to the Rurlough's planet.

"Damn," said Giroro softly at the end of Garuru's directions. It was going to take them a couple of days, at best, of nonstop travel to get to the Rurlough planet.

Garuru explained that the aliens were said to be cold-blooded and to live underground near the warmth of the planet's core, but other than that he could offer no other information that may be helpful in locating Kululu.

"Garuru," said Giroro after a moment, "should we expect the Rurlough to react to our arrival with hostility?"

Garuru looked up. There was clear concern on his sharp features as he spoke, "Yes. Do not let them see you. I believe they'll kill you if they find you. They're more than capable of doing so." He straightened up and paced a few steps away from the table. "The Rurlough are a cold race," he said slowly. "They have no compassion. They are clever and calculating, and there's a reason their planet is the only one in the area that still has life. Be careful."

After saying goodbye to Garuru, Pururu, and Tororo, Keroro and his platoon set out for the Rurlough planet, with Garuru's warning still ringing in their ears.

* * *

 **Ahh, the Rurlough's true less-than-friendly nature is revealed!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Another chapter c:**

 **Be sure to leave a review with comments or questions~**

* * *

Keroro and Giroro input the coordinates of the Rurlough planet they had been given by Garuru and set the ship on auto-pilot so that they were free to wander around the cockpit while they glided through open space.

It didn't take long for Keroro to become restless. He began to pace anxiously around the cabin. Dororo, who had been watching him for a while, eventually grew weary of his friend's relentless movement.

"Keroro, it's not doing you any good to zoom around like that," he said. "You should try to relax-"

"How do expect me to relax, lance corporal?" Keroro responded exasperatedly without ceasing his nervous walk. "UGH!"

The sergeant's anxiety had infected Tamama as well. Wanting to ease both Keroro's nerves and his own, Tamama held out his arms to him.

"Come here, Sarge," he offered sweetly. Keroro paused his restless movement for a moment, gave a small sigh, and then strode over to Tamama and enfolded him in his arms.

"It's gonna be okay, Sarge," Tamama said gently, running his hand through Keroro's hair. He grinned a little to himself, reveling in the physical contact.

Keroro blew air out of the side of his mouth and calmed down a bit.

"Thank you, private."

Keroro's anxiety had only been temporarily assuaged; over the next few days it crept back, stifling and contagious. None of the platoon felt like sleeping much, so by the latter half of the trip everyone was exhausted.

It was when they were less than two hours away from the Rurlough planet that Tamama asked the crucial question.

"Sarge, how are we gonna figure out where Kululu is?" he said, looking up at Keroro from the chair that he was curled upon.

Keroro didn't return his look, so Tamama continued. "There's no way we're going to just happen across him, he could be anywhere on the damn planet!"

Keroro bit his lip, thinking. He had been avoiding this issue up until now, but he couldn't escape it forever. He sighed, wondering if they had been in over their heads from the start. How _would_ they find the sergeant major? After a few moments, Keroro realized what they'd have to do.

"We should scan the planet for life," he answered. "We'll have a better chance of finding him in a more populated area."

"That might be true," said Giroro. "But it will be risky and a waste of time if you're wrong."

"What else can we do, though?" asked Dororo.

"Nothing, I suppose. We'll just have to be careful," Giroro replied. He looked down at the ship's computer screen and added, "We're almost there, we should deploy the ship's cloaking device now."

"Alright, engaging invisibility cloak!" Keroro announced, flipping a switch on the dashboard.

According to the computer, they would be entering the Rurlough planet's orbit within twenty minutes, but there was something strange about the view from the ship's window.

"Where... is the planet?" Tamama asked. Everyone pressed close to the window. Outside, everything was dark. Glinting against the black backdrop of empty space were trillions of distant stars, but no planet could be seen.

Giroro frowned and checked the screen. "This doesn't make any sense. We should be able to see it right now," he said.

Just then Dororo squinted and said, "Wait, look there." He directed their attention to some point in the distance. There, its outline barely perceptible, was a black circle where the stars were blocked out. Upon closer inspection they realized that they were looking at the planet.

"So _dark!,"_ exclaimed Keroro, frowning. "Where's this thing's sun?"

"Maybe it's a black dwarf sun," Giroro offered. "They don't give off any light. Or heat, for that matter."

Dororo shook his head, saying, "It shouldn't be possible for the planet to support life."

"Well, let's find out," said Keroro.

He directed their ship into the planet's orbit and switched it to auto-pilot again. He initiated a scan of the planet to analyze its atmosphere and to determine where the planet was most densely populated.

Remarkably quickly, the scan was complete. They had found that the air was breathable and the gravity was stable, and that most of the population of Rurlough seemed to be gathered in one area a few miles south of the equator.

Keroro and Giroro returned to the pilot's and co-pilot's seats to guide the ship south and land on the shadowed ground while, they hoped, remaining undetected. The planet was so black that while they were landing, it looked as though they were descending into a void.

The ship touched down on the dark planet without warning and rather noisily, and Keroro cringed. The platoon were tense for a moment, but when there wasn't any sign that the Rurlough had heard them they relaxed a little. Dororo warily peered through the window and could see nothing.

"We'll need flashlights or something to get around...," he suggested. "We need to find a way to get underneath the surface of the planet."

"Right," said Giroro. "I think we're going to have to split up, to cover more ground." Keroro handed him a flashlight and he slid it into his belt.

"I suppose we don't have a choice," sighed Keroro. He gave Tamama and Dororo their flashlights and stuck his own in his own pocket.

The four of them filed out of the ship and turned on both their invisibility and their flashlights, which provided only small circles of light to guide them around.

"Okay, let's split up now," Keroro said nervously, squinting at his pitch-black surroundings.

Giroro shone his flashlight around and, when he saw no variation in the flat landscape, chose a direction at random and started walking. "Be careful," he grunted as he disappeared into the gloom.

"Good luck, everyone," said Dororo before he, too, flitted out of sight.

Tamama stared at the places where Giroro and Dororo had vanished from sight. He knew he would have to split up with Keroro now, reluctant though he was to do so. He turned to Keroro and pulled him into an embrace. "Be safe, Sarge," he said, squeezing him.

"Yeah, you too," Keroro mumbled into Tamama's shoulder. Even though they would be able to communicate via earpiece, Keroro was not without worry as he departed from Tamama.

* * *

 **it'S STARTIN TO GET GOOD**

 **AND IT ONLY GETS BETTER FROM HERE AHAHHHHA**


	5. Chapter 5

**Woohoo, new chapter~**

 **PM with any questions you have and be sure to leave a review :)**

* * *

It was disorienting walking around in the pitch dark. The small ray of light that Giroro's flashlight provided was practically useless; could hardly see anything.

He kept on the lookout for any kind of well or cave, for any opening that might lead underground, but it was a fruitless effort. The flat ground looked resolute in the feeble light.

The darkness pressed in on Giroro and made him uncomfortable. Groping around in the dark alone in the neighborhood of dangerous creatures just seemed like an invitation for an attack.

Keroro, a few miles away, was having no better luck than Giroro. After an hour had passed, the sergeant was incredibly frustrated.

"Have you found anything yet?" Keroro said sharply into his earpiece.

Tamama answered his call. "I haven't, Sarge. There isn't anything out here," he replied, slightly ashamed that he could offer no new information on Kululu's whereabouts, but also relieved to hear Keroro's voice.

Keroro rubbed his forehead. "Alright, alright. Regroup, everyone!" he said huffily.

* * *

About thirty minutes later the four of them were back at the ship. They stepped inside and stood in a circle on the deck. Keroro looked around at the others in exasperation and said, "I'm very disappointed in all of you! After all that time out there not one of you found a way underground. This isn't working!"

Dororo began to object but Giroro spoke first. "It looks like we'll have to blast our way in," he suggested, displaying a dangerous expression and holding up one of the grenades that he always carried with him. The other three stared at him in shock.

"Well, the thing is, corporal...," said Keroro, looking slightly exasperated, "that would create a tremendous disturbance..."

"Do you have any better ideas?" Giroro retorted.

"Um..." Dororo began again, but this time Tamama cut him off.

"Oh, let me use my impact, Sarge! I promise it will be quieter than a grenade!" he growled with a maniacal grin.

Before Keroro could reject this idea, Dororo blurted, "I found a way in!". The others turned to him with vaguely surprised expressions. "When we were out before, I found a staircase leading underground!"

"Well, why didn't you say so?" shouted Keroro.

Dororo merely whimpered miserably.

The four men headed out a second time, a bit weary, but still determined to find their missing member.

* * *

Before long, they found themselves standing in front of a large circular hole in the ground. It was shadowy and they could not see into it very far, even with a flashlight.

"I don't wanna go down there," whined Tamama.

Keroro's voice, though he was clearly nervous, rang out encouragingly in the dark. "Buck up, private! We have a mission to complete!"

He started down the staircase, but someone reached out and stopped him.

"We should mark the direction we came from, so we'll know how to get back to the ship later," said Dororo.

Giroro bent down and used a knife to mark a small arrow in the ground that pointed towards their ship, and then they began their descent into the ground.

The passage was narrow and just as dark as it was out in the open air. Keroro shivered and sneezed as he peered around blindly in the dark, groping around for Tamama's hand. He slipped once or twice on the damp stone stairs as they progressed deeper and deeper underground.

Just as he managed to grasp the private's hand, Keroro tripped and slammed into Dororo, who was in front of him.

" _GEROOOOO!_ " Keroro cried as he, Dororo, and Tamama tumbled down the rough steps. On the way down, they felt another impact and heard loud swearing as they knocked Giroro over. The whole party cascaded noisily the rest of the way down the stairs until they finally crashed to the floor.

"Keroro, you stupid bastard! You could have killed us!" bellowed Giroro angrily, picking himself up from the dank floor.

"Well, Dororo tripped me!" Keroro retorted as he sat up. He was momentarily surprised that he was able to see. The others looked ghostly in the strange, weak light.

"Private, are you okay?" he asked Tamama, who was on the ground beside him.

"I think so...," responded Tamama as he stood to help Keroro to his feet.

The four of them examined their new surroundings, and realized that they were in a long underground corridor. The ceiling was tall and, similar to the staircase, the tunnel was only a few feet wide. Control panels placed here and there along the tunnel walls emitted a dim greenish glow. To their right was the entrance to another hallway.

"There's probably a whole network of tunnels down here," inferred Dororo.

"We're going to have to split up if we want to find Kululu," said Giroro. "Two of us can go down that tunnel on the right, and the other two can keep going straight."

"Alright, Tamama, the two of us will go this way," asserted Keroro as he gestured down the hallway, "and Giroro can go that way." This time he pointed to the offshoot tunnel to the right.

"What about me?!" Dororo asked in an injured tone.

"Oh, right. Dororo, you can go with Giroro," Keroro replied indifferently.

"Actually, Keroro," said Giroro, looking at his leader, "I think it'd be better for Dororo to go with Tamama, and for you to stick with me."

Keroro's mouth fell open. "What? Why?"

"Come, on, Giroro!" Tamama appealed.

"Because, one: I need to be able to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't do something stupid," said Giroro, pointing at Keroro, "and two: you and Tamama should be separated, because if something happens, you're going to try and save Tamama rather than yourself, and we can't risk losing our leader." He squinted at the sergeant and added, "There's no use denying that that's what would happen. I'm serious about finding Kululu, so I'll make you split up if I have to."

Keroro's eyes flicked back and forth between Giroro's. Prickling anxiety filled his stomach. He didn't want to be separated from Tamama, and he also didn't want to admit that Giroro was right.

For a moment Keroro considered refusing; after all, he was the captain here, not Giroro.

Keroro looked down. "Okay," he yielded with a heaviness to his voice.

Tamama felt slightly sick. Now that they were underground, where most of the Rurlough resided, he had been more keen than ever on remaining with Keroro. But he knew what had to be done.

He walked over to Keroro and hugged him. "You... you be careful, Sarge...," he said, gently squeezing him.

"You too, Private," replied Keroro softly into Tamama's shoulder.

"It'll be okay...," said Tamama. He felt tears drip onto his coat. "We'll see you soon, don't worry." He reluctantly let go.

"Come on, Keroro, let's go...," Giroro said quietly when the two broke apart.

Keroro, hanging his head, followed Giroro down the tunnel and into the dark. He didn't say a word.


	6. Chapter 6

**Whhaaaat? 2 chapters in one day? woow I guess I'm feelin geneROUS**

* * *

Giroro was silent as he and Keroro walked down the tunnel. Although he felt a little guilty for having to separate Keroro and Tamama, he was certain that he had made the right decision.

Eventually, they came to another fork in the tunnels. Giroro paused in front of the intersection.

Keroro stopped when Giroro did, but he did not look up or indicate that he even realized why they had ceased moving.

"We're gonna have to...," Giroro began. "Keroro, are you even listening?"

"Huh?" Keroro inquired, sounding theatrically depressed. He clearly had not been paying any attention.

Giroro sighed and said, "Keroro, knock it off! Tamama will be fine; he's with Dororo! And if we ever want to find Kululu you have got to _snap out of it!_ " He grabbed Keroro's shoulders and roughly shook him.

"Okay! Okay! I know!" Keroro yelped, alarmed. When Giroro released him he brushed himself off crossly. "I want to find him too. I just have to adjust!"

"Then adjust already!" Giroro said angrily. "Now, listen to me, are you adjusted enough to see that we're at a fork in the tunnel?"

"Yes! We should probably split up again," Keroro decided. He seemed to have snapped back to his usual manner for the moment.

"Exactly, that's what I was trying to say," Giroro replied, relieved. He glanced around. "You go left, I'll go right."

"No, _I'll_ go right and _you_ go left!" Keroro commanded, stomping his foot a little.

"It doesn't matter!" said Giroro, though he turned and went left anyway.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dororo and Tamama were still moving along their own path together.

Feeling sympathetic for him, Dororo had already tried to placate his companion, who trudged along moodily beside him, but his words hadn't really seemed to have an effect so he had fallen silent a few minutes ago.

It was not long before the two of them came to their own fork in the tunnel.

"Well, I suppose this is where we part ways," said Dororo. He put his hand on Tamama's shoulder. "Be strong, Tamama," he said meaningfully.

Tamama nodded. "... Okay, Dororo," he said softly. He turned and went down the tunnel to the right. "Be careful," he added without turning around.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hole shIT _threee_ chapters in one day? whhoa**

 **Be sure to leave a review~~**

* * *

Keroro had stopped walking minutes ago. Having extinguished the energy that had momentarily revived in him during his conversation with Giroro, he now sat on the earthen floor, fiddling with the hem of his green coat morosely.

"So this is how it ends," he said dramatically to no one in particular, feeling sorry for himself. "Will the great Sergeant Keroro die alone underground on some god-forsaken planet at the boundaries of the universe?" Uncomfortable with sweat, he fanned himself. _"The heat,"_ he whispered, squinting. _"I'll soon be dried out..."_

Overacting made him feel a bit better about the situation. He had tried contacting Tamama not that long ago, but had found that their communicators did not function underground due to some kind of interference, and that had caused his depression to escalate.

He eventually decided that he could not sit there forever, and with an effort he made to stand up and continue on his way. That's when he noticed a white shape in the distance coming toward him.

He scrambled to his feet and looked for a way to hide himself. Not too far behind him was a narrow niche in the wall. He squeezed himself into it.

He pressed close to the back of the niche, his heart beating fast as he heard the unmistakable slow shuffling tread of the Rurlough nearing him.

Keroro held his breath as the white mass momentarily blocked out the green light streaming palely into the crevice, shrouding him in shadow. As soon as he was sure the Rurlough was a safe distance from him he gasped for air, certain that he had felt himself turning purple. He stood breathless for a few seconds before cautiously edging out of the wall.

But no sooner than he stood out in the open did he perceive another figure down the hall. His heart fluttered, but just as he was about to dive into his hiding place again he realized that the figure was too small and dark to be a Rurlough.

Keroro squinted apprehensively, and with a great surge of joy understood whom he was looking at.

Before he even knew what he was doing, he was suddenly embracing Tamama tightly enough to nearly suffocate him.

"Sarge!" the private gasped, squeezing him.

Keroro sobbed profusely. "Tamama! Tamama!" he cried, hiccuping.

He rubbed his eyes and, sniffling, said, "I was miserable without you! If it weren't for that stupid Red Daruma Doll..." He trailed off, peering over Tamama's head. "Hey, wasn't Dororo supposed to be with you?"

"Yeah, but we had to split up when we came to a fork in the path."

A slight frown settled on Keroro's brow. "But he was supposed to stay with you. He wasn't supposed to let you go alone," he muttered.

"Well, we had to split up to cover more area, right?" Tamama replied. He noticed that the corporal wasn't there either. "Isn't that what you and Giroro did?"

"Yeah, but I'm not talking about what we did! I trusted Dororo to protect you!" Keroro said, his voice rising.

"Sarge-" Tamama began.

"Where'd he go anyway?!" Keroro spat, cutting Tamama off. "I have a few things to say to him!" He began to storm off.

Tamama leapt forward and grabbed onto the back of Keroro's jacket.

"Sarge, stop! This is stupid!" Keroro continued to move forward, hindered slightly by Tamama holding him. "You hear me, Sarge? I said to stop!"

Keroro turned abruptly to him. "Tamama, don't you get it? It was bad enough being away from you, and now I find out you were alone too! I can't allow that!" he said, his eyes pleading with Tamama.

Tamama had never seen Keroro so distressed. He could see that he wasn't going to be able to stop Keroro if he was really set on finding Dororo. He decided that the least he could do was go with Keroro and make sure he didn't get into a fistfight with the lance corporal.

"Alright, Sarge, we'll... let's go _talk_ to Dororo and sort this thing out," said Tamama while Keroro continued to struggle against him. "Okay?"

"... Okay," Keroro replied and started calming down a bit. He sighed dramatically, and set off down the tunnel.

Tamama pulled on Keroro's hand. "No, Sarge, you're going the wrong way...," he said, pulling him in the right direction.

* * *

 **Ahh, Keroro. I love you, but you're a little bit of a drama queen :)  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**Be sure to leave a review and PM me with any questions~**

 **And don't forget to scoot over to the Keroro Gunso Orikero Wikia page for the Rurlough :D**

* * *

Giroro moved quickly and silently, stopping only to listen every now and then, making sure that he was not being followed.

The passage was just as narrow and high-ceilinged as the rest of them had been so far. Unlike the other tunnels, however, which had twists and turns, this one was straight. Giroro was glad for this; it allowed him to see what was ahead of him as far as the dim lighting from the control panels that lined the damp walls allowed.

Eventually, he came to an intersection: one tunnel continued straight, and two others branched off to either side. He could hear distant noises coming from the left tunnel, though he couldn't quite tell what they were. He decided to just keep going forward.

Although he didn't notice it at first, the path that Giroro was walking on was slowly declining.

After a while, however, it became impossible to ignore. He eventually found himself in risk of tripping forward on the steep floor.

As he went on, the path got steeper and steeper. And the further into the planet Giroro descended, the higher the temperature rose. He supposed that he was nearing the warm areas where the Rurlough would be.

When the path had declined so much that he had started to wonder how he would be able to keep walking, he came to a circular hole in the ground. He peered down it, and saw that it was a spiral staircase descending deep into the planet.

He couldn't see the bottom. Sweat dripped off the tip his nose and slid down his back. He could feel heat rising up from the stairs.

He unbuttoned his jacket, took it off, and tied it around his waist. His undershirt clung to him with sweat. He also removed his hat, stowed it in his back pocket, and smoothed his wet hair back before continuing his descent into the hot planet.

The air got warmer and muggier the farther down Giroro went. It was so hot and humid that it was as though he was in a sauna. He was sweating profusely, and was now starting to pant. The staircase wound in dizzyingly tight circles, making Giroro nauseous. By the time he reached the bottom, his head was spinning.

The stairs had ended in front of a hallway not unlike the others they'd encountered so far.

He pulled his gun from its holster and apprehensively started down the dark hallway, his sweaty clothes sticking to him.

* * *

Nothing was said between Keroro and Tamama as they traced Tamama's path backwards with the intent to find the tunnel Dororo had taken. Keroro, fuming silently, had a tight grasp on his boyfriend's hand.

They eventually ended up at the fork where Tamama and Dororo had parted ways.

"This way, Sarge," said Tamama as he led Keroro along.

They entered the shadowy hallway and continued walking, but before long they came to face a dead end.

"Are you sure this is right, private?" asked Keroro.

"He must have turned around," said Tamama, turning to look at the direction they'd come from.

"Ugh!" Keroro exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air in frustration. "How the hell am I supposed to find him and yell at him if he isn't where I expect him to be?!" he yelled.

"Shh, Sarge!" Tamama said urgently, holding his hands up. "I'm sorry, but _shut up_! You're going to get us caught!"

"Okay, okay!" whispered Keroro. He grabbed Tamama's wrists and brought them back down, sighing.

He leaned forward and rested his forehead against Tamama's, pouting a little. Somehow it helped him feel calmer.

Tamama gazed at him lovingly. Unable to resist, he pressed his lips against Keroro's.

Keroro wrapped his arms around the private's neck, grateful for the distraction.

For a few precious moments the two of them were able to forget their predicament and just stand there leaning against the wall, warm with each other's heat even in the chill of the tunnel.

Keroro finally broke away and chuckled. "Private, this is no time for playing!" he scolded. "We have to find that Dororo!" And he began to march purposefully down the hall. Tamama trotted after him, disappointed that he had not been able to make Keroro forget his anger.


	9. Chapter 9

**Finally, we have uploaded the next chapter, sorry it took so long, ha ha... We actually wrote this chapter, like, a year ago, but we decided last-minute to change a _gigantic_ plot thing, so it required a SERIOUS amount of editing, fighting, deliberating, and ****caffeine. The subsequent chapters will require the same, but it probably won't take as long c:**

 **Thank you, thank you, _thank you_ to everyone who has followed me, favorited my fanfictions, and left nice reviews on both _We Need You Around_ and _Corporal_. It really means a lot to me, and makes me feel so happy when I hear the little email notification sound on my phone announcing that someone has left a review or PM or favorite or follow or something :)**

 **So anyway, enough of my rambling, enjoy the new chapter! Be sure to leave a review and PM me for any questions you might have!**

* * *

Keroro and Tamama continued up the private's previously-walked path. The couple had decided to ignore the first intersecting tunnel that they had come across, but now they were coming upon another.

"I haven't gone this way yet...," said Tamama as they paused at the offshoot tunnel. "There's another one up ahead that I did take, though. That's the one that led me to you." He looked at Keroro. "Maybe Dororo went this way?" He asked, gesturing down the passage.

"He also could have turned back there. But it doesn't matter; this is the way we're going!" declared Keroro.

"'Kay." Tamama took Keroro's hand and they started down the tunnel.

But before long, a low, disturbing sound began to well up in the distance. Keroro stopped in his tracks. "I-I hear Rurlough," he said nervously, his teeth chattering.

Tamama frowned. "Yep...," he whispered. They could see a doorway up ahead. Tamama pointed it out to Keroro and added quietly, "I think it's coming from up there."

Holding onto each other, the two of them reluctantly inched down the hall. They edged up to the doorway and peeked around the corner.

What they saw was horrible.

Crowded together in a room the size of a cathedral were hundreds of Rurlough. They were all clicking, and hearing so many of them making the sound at once was terrifying.

Tamama let out an audible gasp at the sight, which earned him a jab in the ribs and a "Shh!" from Keroro. But then Tamama saw something else.

At the far right side of the room, pushed up against the wall, someone was slowly creeping around the crowd.

 _Dororo._

He was barely managing to make his way around without touching the Rurlough, who were all almost as close to the wall as he was. His movements were controlled and slow.

Even from where Tamama stood, he could see the anxiety on Dororo's face. The Rurlough were mere inches away from him. If any of them backed up even one step, they'd bump into him.

Tamama pointed at the lance corporal and said, "Look, Sarge!" in a hushed voice. For a moment Keroro just stared blankly into the crowd, but when his eyes lighted on Dororo he gave a shrill yell of rage and darted into the room without warning.

"Sarge! _What are you doing?!"_ cried Tamama, alarmed.

The sound of Keroro's yell had drawn the attention of the Rurlough, and although they could not see the Keronians, the whole room was now aware of their presence. The quality and pitch of the clicking had changed; Tamama could feel his teeth buzzing.

Dororo, his face shining with sweat, stared in bewilderment as Keroro stormed towards him. "Keroro? What-"

"You left him!" Keroro shouted damningly as he neared.

"What?"

" _Sarge!_ "Tamama screamed. A Rurlough near Keroro had turned and reached for him.

Keroro gripped his flashlight and swung it as hard as he could in the beast's face. It toppled over with a crash, making it obvious where the Keronians were. Like a single organism the crowd began to head in their direction.

Tamama sprinted into the room and headed for his comrades. A Rurlough stepped into his path and he head-butted it out of the way, starting to feel a bit manic.

" _How could you leave him?!_ " Keroro yelled at Dororo again, undeterred by the Rurlough closing in on them.

"Keroro, what are you talking about?!" Dororo shouted back in dismay.

"Tamama! You left Tamama alone! What's wrong with you?! Who said you could do that?! Who gave you permission?!" A Rurlough's hand suddenly closed on his arm in a bone-crushing grip and twisted it painfully behind his back. " _AGH!_ "

Dororo rushed forward and cleanly sliced the Rurlough's head off. Another Rurlough immediately swooped in to grab the lance corporal and it received a sword through the belly.

Keroro continued to use the heavy flashlight to keep the Rurlough that came too close at bay, screaming at Dororo as he did so. " _Do you have any idea what could have happened to him?!_ "

"Why are you so mad at me?!" Dororo implored. "Tamama's not a little kid!"

"Sarge, you are being _so goddamn stupid!_ " Tamama yelled at him. A Rurlough grabbed him from behind and lifted him up off the floor. He shrieked and kicked out wildly with his legs, feeling his ribs being crushed and his lungs constricted, but he was unable to make contact with the monster's face. He leaned down and bit down hard on its hand, and it dropped him. The private immediately turned around and flung his fist into its face, gagging a little on the foul taste of the Rurlough's blood; it was bitter and acidic.

Keroro and Dororo killed one Rurlough after another, working their way through the crowd. Keroro's anger was losing steam as his survival instinct took over. Even as he beat the beasts' faces in, there was a part of his fevered mind that still wanted to rage. But he could be mad at Dororo later. Now was not the time.

The ground was now littered with Rurlough bodies. Tamama, who had a small circle of them around him, looked up to see one of the creatures coming up behind Keroro, and with a kind of battle cry he leapt over the corpses at his feet and made a beeline for it. "Get out of the way, Sarge!" he yelled. He pushed past several Rurlough and was just a few feet away when he saw a flash of silver. He stopped in surprise and watched as his own bright red blood spurted into the air, his chest feeling as if it had been licked by a flame... He had run right in front of Dororo as the lance corporal had swung his katana at one of the creatures.

Tamama's knees buckled and he fell to the ground, totally forgetting about the Rurlough, his hands fumbling at the wound on his chest that was leaking blood like a faucet now.

Dororo stared at him vacantly, his sword arm hanging limply at his side. The only feeling his sluggishly-operating mind could summon was one of mild shock. This couldn't be right. He couldn't have harmed the young private…

Then he remembered about Keroro. With the sensation of being bogged down by water, he dragged his gaze from Tamama to look at the sergeant. Keroro stood motionless a few feet away. With the slightest twitch of the neck, Keroro looked back at Dororo. The stare clicked into place like the hammer of a gun.

The next thing Dororo knew, his face was exploding and he was staggering backward, little stars blossoming in his vision. He cried out and clutched his nose, feeling his mask becoming wet.

He heard a step behind him and leapt away, narrowly avoiding being captured by a Rurlough. He removed his hand from his face and, taking up his katana again, dispatched another two nearby Rurlough.

He looked wildly around to locate Keroro and Tamama again and spotted them near the center of the room. Tamama was a pale figure sitting on the floor; he was alive, but there was a thin blood trail on the ground showing that he had been dragged. Keroro was standing his ground, looking vicious.

All at once, Dororo's fogginess disappeared and he understood: Keroro had struck him across the face with his flashlight.

With a sick feeling in his stomach Dororo turned away from them again and continued to fight; there were not many of the creatures left. His right eye felt hot and was swelling painfully; he could hardly see out of it now.

At last, the head of the last Rurlough fell to the ground with a thud. Shaking, Dororo sheathed his katana and looked around. It was carnage; the Rurlough bodies, cold and benign, lay peacefully on the ground like so many snowy hills. The room was filled with perfect silence and the acrid smell of blood.

Keroro and Tamama were sitting quietly together. Keroro, who appeared unscathed, had removed Tamama's shirt and was inspecting the wound and crooning to the private to try and keep him calm, though Keroro looked nearly beside himself with panic. Dororo knelt beside them and forced himself to look at what he had done.

There was a clean cut across Tamama's chest, about fifteen inches long but not too deep. It was gushing blood and the skin surrounding it was flushed red. The gash ran right across one of the private's nipples; when Dororo saw this he felt a horrible desire to giggle. He was repulsed with himself.

The injury didn't look critical. Dororo hated to think of what would have happened if he had swung his sword a little higher... or if the slash had been deeper and torn through Tamama's ribs and lungs… No, Tamama had a good chance of living through this, Dororo thought, but only if they could stop the bleeding…

He reached out to touch the private's arm and made to say some of what he had been thinking, but Keroro slapped him hard on the cheek the moment he moved. It made the side of his face that wasn't already swollen and bruised sting sharply. He sat in shock for a moment and then stood and walked away, stepping around Rurlough bodies and eventually coming to a stop near one of the doorways.

His breathing was shallow and quick as guilt crushed his insides. It had really happened. Tamama was bleeding out, and it was Dororo's sword that had caused it. In a frenzy, his mind flooded with excruciating images: Tamama dead in Keroro's arms, the violent grief and bitter resentment in his eyes, the chair in the meeting room that would be empty… He felt a scream rising up, trying to rip its way out of his chest, but he bit the inside of his cheek and held it back.

Dororo heard Keroro move somewhere behind him and he turned around. The sergeant and Tamama had stood up, the former supporting the latter with an arm around his shoulders. Dororo rushed over at once to help but Keroro held up his free hand and spoke in a low hiss. "Stop right there. I have to take the private up to the ship and give him medical attention. You are not going to come with us. You will stay here and continue looking for Sergeant Major Kululu and you will _not_ come out of these damn tunnels until you find him. Do you understand?"

With effort, Dororo maintained eye contact. "I understand," he said quietly.

Keroro didn't respond. He muttered something to Tamama and they started walking cooperatively. The lance corporal watched them go, feeling strangely empty.

Dororo stayed in that room for a long time after they were gone, motionless, gazing fixedly at the aftermath of the slaughter without really seeing it.

* * *

 ***dramatic cacophony of violins and kettle drums***

 **tO BE CONTINUED AHAHAHAHAHAH**


	10. Chapter 10

**beep-beep-beeeeeep~~**

* * *

Rurlough.

Thousands of them.

They gathered in the rooms that branched off of the main path. They patrolled the halls. They were everywhere.

Giroro had to take care not to run into any of them or make noise as he slowly made his way down the muggy hall. He was still trying to stay on a mostly straight path, but it was getting difficult; there were many more turns now.

He carefully and quietly maneuvered around the Rurlough that passed him. They didn't seem to notice him, so despite the sheer number of them crowded in these tunnels, he continued forward.

He assumed that Kululu would be in one of the more populated areas doing whatever job it was that he was doing nowadays, so the large number of Rurlough was actually a good sign.

After a while, the path narrowed greatly and then suddenly opened into a gigantic room that was filled with Rurlough. Not wanting to risk crossing it, Giroro turned to go back. However, he realized that there was a pair of the creatures walking up right behind him and he was forced to step into the room to get out of their way.

He pressed close to the wall, keeping as far away from the creatures as he could. Beginning to sweat from stress, he peered through the crowd. At the other side of the chamber was a doorway to another hall. There was just enough space along the wall to inch towards it.

He took a deep breath of the humid air and set off around the room.

It was difficult to move without bumping into the aliens. There were many close calls that left Giroro's heart leaping in his throat. But he persisted. He felt like this was the right way to go.

It took him about thirty minutes, but eventually he had crossed the room and was able to slip out, unnoticed.

As Giroro continued his descent, he encountered more rooms like this. But they were less crowded and he was able to move through them without much trouble.

After winding his way through the sweltering tunnels for what felt like days, Giroro emerged into a hall that was different from the others. It was very short, extending in front of him only about twenty feet, and the walls were metallic. At the end of the passage, directly opposite the entrance, was a closed door.

Giroro moved cautiously down the tunnel and examined the door. It was metal, and it looked heavy enough to survive a blast from a bomb. It had a tarnished, complex-looking lock on it, but no handle. Ancient letters embossed into the metal above the door said something in what Giroro guessed was the Rurlough's written language.

The corporal didn't suppose that the door would be unlocked, but surprisingly it swung forward when he pushed on it. As he had anticipated, it was very heavy.

After a few more minutes of traveling through a similar tunnel, he came to another door. This one was also unlocked, which Giroro thought was suspicious. Perhaps the Rurlough didn't think there would ever be intruders, and so felt no need for security.

He passed through it and came to a big open room, but unlike the other ones he had come across, this room was rectangular rather than round, and it was also empty of Rurlough.

There was another doorway that opened up to a hallway adjacent to him, and the walls along the sides appeared to have panes of glass hung on them.

His hand on his gun, Giroro went to inspect one of the sheets of glass, and he realized that it was actually a clear door to another much smaller room. It was empty except for heavy black shackles mounted on the wall.

He walked along the wall looking into the other rooms, which were all identical to the first. All of the rooms were the same size, and they were all evenly spaced from each other along both walls. There were locks on all of the doors.

Giroro was hit with the sudden realization that he was standing in a cell block. He started to wonder if that was what the sign above the door had said.

He turned to go back. There was no point in staying here, because Kululu wouldn't be in the cell block.

As he was about to leave, though, he looked back because he had seen something. At the end of the hall he had noticed earlier, he could see a blinking light. For a moment, he considered just ignoring it, but his curiosity got the better of him. He started down the hall.

At the end, he saw that the light was emitting from a hand scanner on the door to another cell. Giroro noticed with a kind of dull surprise that this cell was actually occupied. The person inside looked badly hurt; obviously the Rurlough had been performing some kind of torturous acts on him.

In fact, the man in the cell was so mangled that it took Giroro a few moments to realize that he was looking at Kululu.

* * *

 **aaaaaaAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHH OMGGG SO UNBELIEVABLLLE!1!1!  
(lmao not rlly I wrote it I knew this would happen)**


	11. Chapter 11

Giroro's mouth opened in surprise. For a moment, he stood there in shocked silence.

Kululu was supposed to be in his new job, using his intelligence to its full potential or whatever the Rurlough had said, so why was he here? Had he done something that the Rurlough had decided warranted punishment?

Giroro took another step closer to the glass. "Kululu...?" he said, even though there would be no way for Kululu to hear him through the thick glass. Even if there was, it wouldn't matter because it looked as though he was unconscious, his head resting limply on his shoulder.

He had been stripped of everything from the waist up: his jacket, shirt, lab coat, glasses, hat, and headphones. Giroro could see that he had lost a lot of weight in the short time he'd been gone. Massive red and blue bruises were blossomed over his body and face. His wrists, which were shackled to the wall above him, were bloody and raw. It looked like he had tried and failed to slip out of the restraints.

But worse than all of this was the fact that there was a halo of incisions around Kululu's head that looked as though they had been clumsily cauterized and stitched up. Despite the cauterization, they were still bleeding.

This didn't look to Giroro as though the sergeant major had simply been incarcerated, so what had the Rurlough been doing to him?

Giroro sighed and shook his head. He decided that at the moment it didn't really matter what they had been doing to him. He was sure that the answer to that would become clear soon enough, so what he needed to worry about was getting Kululu out.

He took a steadying breath and looked at the door.

The door had a large hand scanner that he assumed the Rurlough used to gain entry to the cell. Because it obviously wouldn't work for Giroro to try his own hand, he knew that he was going to have to break in. What he really wanted to do was blast it open with a bomb, but he knew it would cause too much of a disturbance. Something like that could potentially harm Kululu, anyway. Perhaps he could shatter the glass-like material with a gunshot? Ah, but this probably wasn't actually glass. Not to mention, there was the danger that the bullet would ricochet back at him.

Since the door had no other locks except for the scanner, Giroro pulled a large knife from his belt and slid it into the crack between the door and the wall. He didn't really think that this would work, but his options were limited.

After a several minutes of trying to pry the door open, his knife blade finally snapped. At this, he lost his temper and shouted, " _Son of a bitch!_ "  
His voice reverberated off the walls.

Mere seconds after this outburst, however, he started to realize what a grave mistake he had made. He felt certain that at least one of the monsters had heard him, and surely they would come to see who was trespassing upon their cellblock. A minute passed and he didn't hear anything. Maybe he was too far away to be heard…?

But a moment later, the unmistakable sound of approaching footsteps began to echo down the hall.

"Son of a bitch...," repeated Giroro, though much quieter. He knew that the Rurlough couldn't see him, but that wouldn't stop them from hearing him or bumping into him.

He stepped away from the door. He quietly pulled his gun out of its holster and cocked it. He watched down the hallway, sitting very still, until one of the Rurlough finally appeared and ambled into the cellblock.

Giroro hardly breathed as the creature walked past him. It stopped in front of the door to Kululu's cell and then held one of its long fingered hands up in front of the scanner. After a few seconds' delay, the door opened. The Rurlough stepped inside.

Moving carefully, Giroro moved forward to the door again. He raised his gun.

Somehow, the Rurlough heard this small movement. It slowly turned around to face him.

Without hesitation, he shot it in the face.

The Rurlough looked almost surprised for a moment, its black eyes staring wetly through its invisible assailant. White blood seeped out of the hole in its head. Then it crumpled to the floor and was still.

Giroro stepped over its body and rushed into the room. He was painfully aware that he had only a few minutes to get Kululu out before more Rurlough came down to the cellblock to investigate the gunshot.

The sergeant major looked even worse up close. Whatever the Rurlough had been doing to him in the past weeks hadn't been good.

The shackles were heavy and made of some kind of unyielding metal, so breaking them was out of the question. Giroro knew that he was just going to have to pull Kululu out of the restraints.

Thank god that Kululu was unconscious, because this was going to hurt.

Giroro knelt beside the sergeant major and grabbed onto one of his wrists with one hand and the first shackle with the other. He started pulling the two apart. Kululu's wrists cracked ominously, but Giroro continued tugging. On the bright side, it was lucky that Kululu's wrists were so bloody because it seemed to be helping him slide out.

Just as his first hand yanked out, Kululu started to stir. He wrenched his arm from the corporal's grip. "Screw off...," he muttered weakly. His breaths came in great shudders. Giroro shushed him and continued trying to free him, but Kululu was resisting now. " _No_...," he groaned, pulling away. There was a pained expression on his face and he was shaking. He suddenly kicked out with one of his legs, and his knee caught Giroro in the side of the face. Then the sergeant major took a deep breath as though he was going to start screaming, and Giroro hastily clapped his hand over Kululu's mouth.

"God, just be quiet! It's me!" he hissed.

Kululu inhaled sharply through his nose, but then an expression of recognition passed over his face and he relaxed a little.

With his free arm he weakly but impatiently pushed Giroro's hand away from his mouth. He squinted to try to make the image of his companion clearer, but without his glasses he may as well have been staring at a red and white wall.

"Ku ku ku...," he chuckled feebly and without humor. This slight movement of his chest sent severe pain flaring across his ribs and he gasped and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Just stay still while I get these off," ordered Giroro.

As he pulled the sergeant major's other hand from the shackle, it was obvious that it was causing him great pain, as Giroro suspected it might. Kululu bit down hard on his lip and tried to keep from crying out.

Once the Kululu was free, Giroro gingerly put a hand to his bruised ribs. "Do you think you can walk? Are your ribs broken?" he asked.

"Ku ku, probably," Kululu said hoarsely, wincing.

Slowly, he tried to sit up. He didn't get far before he made a strange sound and his eyes rolled back. Giroro caught him before he could fall and hit his head. The sergeant major was out again.

"Shit...," Giroro mumbled. He would obviously have to carry him.

He carefully lifted Kululu up and then maneuvered him so that he was draped over his back.

Hoping that they wouldn't meet any Rurlough on their way back up to the surface, Giroro slowly stood up, re-adjusted Kululu slightly, and started on his way out of the cellblock.

"Just hang in there, soldier...," he muttered, even though Kululu was unconscious.


	12. Chapter 12

**KABOOOOOOOM!**

 **BACK AT YA WITH THREE EXCITING CHAPTERS~!**

 **HUZZAH!**

* * *

Because the Rurlough had taken Kululu's hat, Giroro didn't have the option to switch his antibarrier on for him. Since there was no point for Giroro to be invisible if Kululu wasn't, he turned off his own too.

He needed to return Kululu to the surface urgently, but it was too dangerous to go back the way he came, so he took the first branching tunnel.

Kululu was still out cold, much to Giroro's impatience. He wanted to ask him what the Rurlough had been doing to him. But, he reasoned, Kululu was in very bad shape; they would have time to talk later.

But, after about a quarter of an hour of walking, Kululu did start to come around again. He drew a couple of deep, painful-sounding breaths and then slurred, "So… to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"We, uh, needed you, I guess. About two weeks after you left someone hacked into the base," answered Giroro. "We had no idea what had been happening to you." He paused for a moment. "What _has_ been happening? I thought you came here for a new job?"

"How adorably naïve of you," commented Kululu flatly. "I knew from the beginning that they were lying. They weren't really offering me a job," he continued. "They had _other_ plans for me."

"What... did they do?" Giroro asked, dreading the answer.

Kululu was quiet for a several moments. Finally, he replied, "It turns out the Rurlough have been slowly dying out over the past years. They aren't advancing, they aren't evolving, and they've stopped reproducing naturally." The sergeant major paused. "The Rurlough reproduce by cloning. It wasn't always like that, but that's how it's been for a long, long time. This means that they aren't evolving at all anymore. Every new clone is just exactly the same as the previous. That includes any ailments a single Rurlough might have. If they clone a Rurlough that's dying, the clone will also be ill... and as a result, most of the population, if not all, is very sick." He coughed a little and took a deep breath. "When they found out about my outstanding intelligence, they decided that they wanted it for themselves. They think that if their brains were more advanced, they would be able to find a way to create a stronger being and save themselves from going extinct.

"They've been extracting DNA from various parts of my brain. They're going to try to use it to improve their own brains. But unfortunately for me, their methods are invasive and excruciating," Kululu explained with a bitter chuckle. "And they don't seem to know their own strength, either, so I think some of my ribs are broken."

Giroro felt stunned and disgusted. How could they all have been so stupid?

He wasn't really sure what to say, so he just hitched Kululu up a little higher and kept moving forward, trying not to picture Kululu surrounded by Rurlough and covered in blood with his skull split open.

But after some time he finally asked, "If you knew... then why didn't you just refuse to go with them?"

"Because if I had, you would all be dead right now and I would still be in my cell," Kululu said shortly.

Giroro pondered this, biting his lip. "What you did was... an incredibly courageous thing, soldier," he told him quietly.

"Hm," grunted Kululu before falling silent again.

As they continued on, they passed a few rooms full of Rurlough like those that Giroro had encountered earlier, but the Rurlough didn't seem to notice them hurrying past the doorways.

They eventually came upon another offshoot and Giroro headed down it, hoping that it would lead them to the surface. The path declined a little, which just made the tunnel hotter. Giroro felt like he had lost a gallon of sweat in the time he had been in these tunnels.

Kululu still seemed conscious, but he wasn't talking. Giroro could hear his quick, ragged breathing, and it seemed like each intake of air was causing the sergeant major great pain.

Kululu was resting his head on Giroro's shoulder and had his arms loosely hanging around his neck. Ordinarily, the closeness would have made the corporal incredibly uncomfortable, but these weren't normal circumstances. Blood trickled down Kululu's face from one of the cuts on his head and gently dripped onto Giroro's shirt.

After several minutes of walking, they ended up at the foot of a staircase.

"Thank god...," Giroro muttered. He had been starting to fear that the staircase he had come down earlier had been the only one.

Carrying Kululu up miles of stairs would be no easy feat, but there was nothing else he could do, so he tightened his grip on Kululu's legs, said, "Hang in there, Kululu," and started up.


	13. Chapter 13

Giroro's body was shaking with exhaustion. He had lost count of how many steps he had carried Kululu up ages ago. It was amazing that he hadn't appreciated how many stairs there had been when he had come down them earlier.

Giroro decided that there was no way that things could get any worse: his legs might give out at any moment, Kululu was in critical condition, and Giroro had no idea where the rest of his comrades were.

One thing that was good about his situation was that the higher up he got, the cooler it became. It was less sticky and the heat was no longer unbearable (though by contrast to everything else it hardly seemed to matter).

Every nerve in Giroro's body was screaming at him to stop climbing, but he wouldn't let himself. It was his mission to get Kululu out safely, and he wouldn't be able to do that if the Rurlough got them first. Undoubtedly, they knew that the platoon was on their planet and stealing away their last chance at life. He had to move as quickly as possible.

Just when he had finally given in and decided to stop for a couple of minutes, he reached the top of the staircase.

He gratefully fell to his knees and sat there a few moments as his muscles relaxed.

"Are you okay?" he asked Kululu, who had been still and quiet for a while. The sergeant major didn't reply. "Kululu?" Giroro nudged him with his shoulder.

Kululu lifted his head up and squinted at Giroro. "... What?"

"Are you okay?"

Kululu took a few painful breaths before wheezing sarcastically, "Oh, I've never been better."

"Alright... well, we'll be back at the ship soon..."

There didn't seem to be any Rurlough in this area, and it was dead silent. Giroro continued down a straight path, ignoring all the other tunnels that appeared along the walls.

What he needed was another staircase to get back up to the surface. His plan was to take Kululu back to the ship and then to come back down to retrieve his companions, wherever they may be.

Miraculously, after another fifteen minutes of walking, they found themselves at the foot of another set of stone steps.

"Okay, here we go again...," Giroro said, feeling amazed at their own luck, but resentful all the same as he began climbing again. His legs felt strangely gelatinous and the stitch in his side that had just started going away almost immediately reappeared. "I'm going to get you out of here, okay, soldier? Just hang in there."

"Whatever you say, corporal," breathed Kululu. After a pause, he muttered, "You guys shouldn't have even come."

"Don't be stupid; you would have died if we hadn't."

"I know," Kululu replied curtly.

"Well... stop being such a dumbass, you know that... Keroro wouldn't have allowed that," Giroro mumbled evasively as he continued up.

Kululu was about to make a remark but he was suddenly interrupted when a crushing force encircled his ribs. A Rurlough had silently come up behind them and grabbed him. It roughly pulled him backwards. He struggled to take a breath before yelling in pain.

"Kululu!" Giroro shouted as he whipped around, seeing the small group of Rurlough on the stairs. They had finally caught up with them. Of _course_ things could get worse. He swore loudly and tugged his gun from its holster.

The corporal saw one of the creatures grab Kululu by the throat and he quickly shot it before it could snap his neck. One of the Rurlough moved towards Giroro, its dark eyes blankly staring at him. He tried to shoot it too, but it struck him with immense force and knocked the weapon from his hand.

Meanwhile, Kululu was screaming in agony while wrestling with the Rurlough, tears streaming down his face. There were two audible cracks and the volume of Kululu's yells increased. More of his ribs had broken.

Giroro ducked under the Rurlough's arm and reached for his gun, but before his fingers were able to close around it, a hand slammed onto his neck and pushed him to the ground. His face collided with the floor painfully.

It hurt like hell, but Giroro didn't feel like anything had broken. He rolled over and tried to sit up, but the Rurlough put a hand on each shoulder and effectively kept him down. It was kneeling over him, with a leg on either side of his waist.  
" _Be still…,_ " Giroro heard the Rurlough's voice whisper in his head.

" _YOU BASTARD!_ " the corporal screamed in its blank face, but it didn't respond. It was horrifying having one of the monsters so close like that. Giroro could feel the Rurlough's cold body pressing against his groin as it straddled him. The contact made him feel sick.

He struggled against it, attempting to get his legs beneath the Rurlough and kick it off of him. It shut down these attempts by adjusting one of its knees to rest on his thigh and hold his lower body down.

Giroro looked over its shoulder and saw one of the other Rurlough pick up the now mostly motionless Kululu. The sergeant major wasn't making any noise anymore, but he was mouthing words that Giroro couldn't understand and tears were still flowing down his face. They began to carry him back down the stairs.

" _No! You sons of bitches! I didn't just drag him up all those for nothing!_ " Giroro yelled furiously.

With difficulty, Giroro freed one of his arms enough to grope in his pocket and locate his switchblade. It didn't seem like the Rurlough even noticed that the corporal had moved, as it made no attempts to stop him.

He flicked the knife open and shoved it into the pale figure that was pinning him down. He jerked the blade up towards its chest, splitting its belly open.

Cool, sticky blood the consistency of egg whites flooded from the wound. The Rurlough collapsed onto him, and he gratefully scooted out from under it.

He stepped over it and headed for the stairs. They hadn't managed to take Kululu far yet.

Giroro drove his blade into the neck of the one that held the sergeant major in its arms. It crumpled, dropping Kululu.

The other Rurlough took a swing at him with its pale arm. He slashed at it with his knife, but it avoided the blade and flung its fist into Giroro's face, knocking him against the wall. His forehead connected with the stone, and pain exploded in his head and sent a shock throughout his body. Before he could recover from the blow, the Rurlough he'd cut wrest the knife from his grasp and tossed it down the steps.

It grabbed onto his wrists and he struggled to throw it off of him. The corporal glanced down at Kululu, who seemed barely conscious and was still mouthing something, his face contorted with despair. Now Giroro could see what he was saying.

" _Leave me._ "

Giroro paused in his struggle with the white figure for a moment and stared at Kululu in horror, before giving his head a little shake and shouting, "No, jackass! For the last time, I'm not leaving you!" He finally pulled his arms from the Rurlough's hands. "Stop saying that!"

Kululu glared at him and, with an enormous effort, choked out, "You-don't stand a _chance_ against them-if you've got me!" He gasped, "Fucking _please_ ," and then fell still.

" _You..._ ," Giroro hissed. He ducked the Rurlough's fist, and slammed his hands into its chest, giving it a huge push down the steps. It fell backwards, hitting its head on a stair and becoming limp. "... _You son of a bitch!_ "

He got ready to defend himself against the next Rurlough, but there was none. There had only been the four, and he had killed them all.

This was lucky for him, because he was trembling with exhaustion and probably wouldn't be able to fight another one anyway.

He wiped his bloody hands on his pants before picking up his gun and re-holstering it. He thought about retrieving his knife, but he didn't want to take the time and energy to do so.

With a dizzying effort, he carefully picked Kululu up and brought him to the top of the stairs.

He knelt beside him, and shakily pressed two fingers against the side of the sergeant major's neck. After a few moments, he felt a feeble pulse beating against his fingertips. Giroro exhaled and relaxed slightly. He ached with fatigue and pain, but he had no idea if more Rurlough were following them. If they were attacked again, he didn't think that he would be able to win.

So he had no choice but to continue on.

His back had really been starting to hurt, so he lifted Kululu up bridal-style this time and proceeded down the hallway.

 _Now...,_ he thought, _..._ now _it can't get any worse..._

* * *

 **Say what you will about Giroro, but hot damn, he ain't no bitch c:**


	14. Chapter 14

He was shaking all over and sweating profusely again, but Giroro was desperate to get Kululu back aboveground so he persevered.

After a while, Giroro saw that Kululu was starting to come around again. The sergeant major groaned, then raised his hand up and weakly smacked Giroro's face.

"What?" the corporal asked sharply. When he looked down at Kululu he was surprised to be met with such a cold glare.

"What is it with you, huh?" the sergeant major spat.

"I'm just trying to save your life, idiot," Giroro retorted.

"I," Kululu panted, " _told you_ -"

"Yeah, you told me to just let the Rurlough kill you!" the corporal said, feeling a pang of anger. "If I did that, it would destroy the whole purpose of this mission!" He took a left turn at a fork in the path and added, "Not to mention, if I had left you then you'd be _dead_."

Kululu ignored Giroro's last statement and, drawing strength from his frustration, continued, "If the rest of you used your heads a little maybe you could fix your problems on your own. But instead you come here and almost get yourself killed just to bother me and drag me back there to fix everything for you." He took a painful breath. "How pathetic."

"If _you_ used _your_ head a little maybe you'd realize that obviously that's not why we're trying so hard." Giroro didn't want to stop walking, but he had to, if only just for a few minutes. He set Kululu down propped up against the wall, and then sat across from him. "Maybe you'd realize that we all just want you to live."

Kululu scoffed and rolled his eyes. "What for? You don't care about me. None of you do. The four of you only want me back so I can fix your little problems." He coughed quietly and went on. "Think about it, corporal. How many times have you people called me 'insidious' and said my personality was 'dark'?"

Giroro listened unflinchingly to all of this with no change of expression and no reply. Kululu slid a little further down the wall and looked down before adding, "Especially you. You always expressed an extreme distaste for me, and if I ever had the _audacity_ to speak to you, all you ever did was try to get as far away from me as possible. And now you expect me to believe you actually care about me? Face it, you're just acting on orders." He shook his head. "What a joke." He was starting to lose steam so he fell silent, closing his eyes and resting his head against the wall.

Giroro stretched out and struck him hard across the face, shouting, "Screw you!" Kululu gasped with pain when he twisted, but Giroro didn't even take notice. "You've known me for over ten years now and you _aren't stupid_ , so you should be able to figure out for yourself that I'm not going to risk my life for someone if I don't care about them!" He knew that he shouldn't have hit the sergeant major, who was already in such a critical condition, but for the moment he didn't care.

The force of the impact had made Kululu turn to the side. There was an incredibly sharp pain in his chest that burned and immediately started feeling swollen.

He slowly turned to face Giroro again. A whining ring, related either to his injuries or to his anger, sung in his ears. Then, inexplicably, a peculiar grim smile began to sneak across his gaunt features.

Without warning he leaned forward, took Giroro's face in his hands, and kissed him harshly on the mouth.

Shock was the first thing that registered in the corporal's mind. Of course, Kululu had teased and flirted with him for years, but he had never made a move like this.

Giroro's next feeling was anger, and his reaction was to want to hit the sergeant major again. But he couldn't. That would just cause further damage to Kululu's brain. So instead, he roughly pushed him away and broke eye contact, his face burning.

A little bit of blood spilled out of the sergeant major's mouth. _Internal bleeding_ , he thought dully.

"You're the idiot," Kululu muttered snidely through his teeth before settling back against the wall.

* * *

 **:')**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry that it went so long in between chapters; I've been busy! Also, it's a looong chapter, so it took time to write**

* * *

"Sarge?"

"Yes, Tamama?"

"We're lost…"

"Hmm. It does seem that way." Keroro sat leaning against the wall next to Tamama with his eyes closed. He had known that they were lost hours ago.

In his rage and haste he had ended up leading them to a completely unfamiliar sector of the labyrinth not long after leaving Dororo. Since then the two of them had traveled irretrievably far from their starting point.

The flow of blood from Tamama's wound had slowed considerably, but it hurt unlike anything he had ever experienced. The line Dororo's sword had cleaved across Tamama's chest burned as if he had been branded, and the flesh around it was pink and raw. He found that it was impossible to raise his arms very high.

"You look warm, Tamama," Keroro noted with concern. The private's face was very flushed. Keroro leaned over and pressed his lips to Tamama's forehead.

"Well, at least you don't have a fever. It must just be the environment," he said, first flapping his hand in front of Tamama's face and then fanning his own.

Tamama sniffed. "We have to get out of here," he choked, a lump forming painfully in his throat even though he felt too weak to cry. "I wish I had some cake…" he added in a mournful whisper.

Keroro looked at him, aching with pity. He was very tired himself, but he hated the idea of Tamama's walking on his own while he was in pain.

Keroro rose to his feet and extended his hands to Tamama, who grasped them and stood shakily. "Climb on, private," instructed Keroro as he positioned himself to carry his companion on his back.

"No, Sarge, I can do it," Tamama said wearily. He began walking down the hall. Keroro strode forward and kept pace with him.

Neither of them spoke as they wound themselves deeper into the maze of tunnels. They had no hope of returning to their original entrance to the underground, so they chose their directions at random, sometimes deciding to keep a straight path for a long span of time before finally turning down another dark passage.

At times the floor felt like it was sloping away from their feet, at which point they would go back the way they came, not wanting to descend any further into the planet. For some stretches, the air felt conspicuously cooler, something that the two Keronians were grateful for.

It was in one of these areas that they were met with a Rurlough for the first time in hours. It came slowly down the tunnel towards them, its wet eyes staring fixedly ahead, not seeing the Keronians. Keroro and Tamama halted in their tracks, the sergeant with his arm protectively in front of Tamama.

Without breathing, Keroro pushed on Tamama's shoulder, herding him to the side of the tunnel. Every movement their feet made against the floor was too loud; Keroro was sure that every second that passed would be the second that the creature would lunge at them.

They flattened themselves against the wall as the Rurlough approached. Keroro could see that it was going to pass by them with barely a foot of space to spare, and for a horrible moment he thought it was going to brush against Tamama, who was stockier than him. But it passed by without taking notice of them, and it was another few minutes before the Keronians felt safe enough to venture away from the wall.

"This stress isn't good for the heart, no sir," said Keroro, his hand on his chest. "We should keep moving, private." He offered Tamama his arm for support, and the two of them continued down the tunnel.

As they walked, Tamama observed with satisfaction that he was doing pretty well despite his injury. He allowed Keroro to assist him because he wanted to be close to the sergeant, but he was carrying his own weight.

 _Well,_ he thought, _I am an extremely powerful soldier, after all._ And with this thought, he swooned and fell against Keroro.

" _Gero!"_ yelped Keroro as he staggered. He grabbed ahold of the private and knelt, lowering Tamama with him to the floor. "Tamama? What's wrong?" he asked anxiously as he cradled the young man's pale face in his hands.

Tamama squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head a little. When he tried to look up at Keroro again he was angry to see that there were black patches obscuring the sergeant's face.

"Are you okay, private?!" Keroro demanded with increasing urgency.

The room was tilting around dizzyingly, making Tamama feel sick. He sat up and immediately fell forward on his hands and knees and emptied the contents of his stomach. Blood dripped from the wound on his chest while it throbbed and bile came out of his nose, burning his sinuses. His heart was pounding fretfully against his ribs and the words _hypovolemic shock_ bounced around in his head, but he found his mind too foggy to connect them with any logic to his situation.

"Tamama, let me carry you," implored Keroro, lifting Tamama under the armpits as he made to stand.

"I can do it, Sarge!" said Tamama as vehemently as he could, but his face was bone-white.

Without warning, Keroro lifted him onto his shoulders and proceeded down the hall. "You're not well, private," he said worriedly. "We must get back to the ship this instant."

Tamama gave a whine like a disappointed child. He had failed his sergeant. He was slipping and he was dragging Keroro down with him… He decided that when they got back to Pekopon he would train himself not to succumb to injuries, so that this would never happen again…

The next thing he knew, he was being moved in a nauseating spiraling motion. He kept his eyes shut tight, trying not to be sick all over Keroro. He could hear the sergeant panting as he carried him.

Tamama noticed after a while that Keroro was stopping every dozen feet or so to catch his breath. But even in his befuddled state the frequency of these pauses surprised Tamama. He opened his eyes a fraction; it took him a few moments to realize that Keroro was carrying him upward.

"Stairs…?" he managed to ask.

"Tamama! You've come around!" Keroro exclaimed breathlessly. "Yes. We are on our way out!"

Buoyed up by relief, Tamama remained conscious through the rest of the ascent, long though it was. The light began to dim as they continued upward until they were immersed in complete darkness. Suddenly the unbearable spiral ended and the Keronians emerged into cool air. They had made it to the surface at last.

Keroro set Tamama down gently and gratefully collapsed next to him.

"We made it. Yessir, we did," sighed Keroro, sounding very pleased with himself. He stayed seated only a minute before standing again. "Let's get you medical attention, private," he said as he groped in the dark for Tamama.

But just as he found Tamama's arm and began lifting him again, he froze.

"Sarge?" asked Tamama weakly. He felt Keroro sink back down next to him. "Whasswrong?"

"Tamama," said Keroro in a quavering voice, "we don't know where the ship is."

Tamama struggled to wrap his foggy mind around this concept. Then he understood. The arrow they had drawn so many hours ago would only have helped guide them if they had used the same staircase to get to the surface.  
 _Wow_ , he thought dimly to himself, _that was dumb of us._

Keroro whipped out his flashlight and shone it on the ground. There was the crevice in the earth that they had just come out of, but the ground was unmarked. Tamama watched in dismay as Keroro rotated on the spot, directing the flashlight's beam at their surroundings. The light revealed only barren landscape as far as it reached.

He flipped the switch off. Blue-green smudges of light glowed residually in Tamama's vision.

"I can't believe this," murmured Keroro. Then, he took a breath and bellowed, _"Where is the ship?!"_ He sat down dejectedly beside Tamama.

There was a moment following his outburst that the two spent in silence, and then the silence was suddenly broken by a wailing noise coupled with what sounded like a gunshot.

Keroro leapt to his feet with a shout and protectively grabbed Tamama's head with both his hands. His eyes searched around frantically in the darkness for the source of the noise, and then he spotted a bright red light in the sky. The annoying alarm sound, which sounded to Keroro like an air raid siren, was coming from that direction.

At first he thought that it was the Rurlough who had set off the alarm, that it was some kind of signal alerting the entire planet of the Keronians' presence, and he felt very exposed in the red glare of the distant light. But as the flare descended he saw it: the glint of metal on a large object directly under the glowing beacon.

"It's the ship! The ship sent up a flare!" cried Keroro. Without hesitating he stooped, put his arm between Tamama's legs and hoisted him up again. It was far, but it was within reach. He set off at an awkward jog, the private slung uncomfortably on his shoulders.

When they finally reached the ship Keroro was thoroughly exhausted. Breathing heavily, he located the entrance and activated the switch to open the door. But the door wouldn't open.

"What? Why?!" He pounded on the door and began to panic. He needed to get Tamama inside. He couldn't let him lose any more blood.

After a considerable amount of abuse the door shuddered and opened partway. Keroro let Tamama down and helped him through the entrance first, and then he followed and forced the door closed from the inside.

The screaming of the siren was much louder once he was inside; Keroro rushed over to the control panel and searched for a way to stop the noise, but how could he turn off something he wasn't even aware existed?

The alarms had been activated by his words, he decided, so shouldn't he be able to turn them off the same way?

Hesitantly, he said, "Uhh, Mr. Ship? Please turn off the sirens?" Much to his surprise, the sound shut off immediately. There was nothing to do about the flares except wait for them to extinguish, but at least the alarm had been silenced.

He gazed around in wonder. "Kululu must have set up voice controls! Yes, _sir,_ what would we ever do without him…?" Keroro said fondly, turning to look at Tamama. With a blow like a hit to the stomach, he was shocked back into reality when he saw the state the private was in.

He was paler than Keroro had ever seen him and he looked ready to pass out. Blood dripped down in fine streams from the horrible gash on his chest.

Keroro rushed over to him. He removed his shirt and then his undershirt and handed the latter to Tamama. "Press that to your wound!" he instructed while flitting around for medical supplies.

He came back with a first aid kit and assisted Tamama in staunching the blood flow; he pressed down on the wound with one hand and used the other to rummage through the case. He found a bottle that was labeled "70% Isopropyl Alcohol".

He glanced down at Tamama. "So, private, you know that coat I bought last week? Do you think I should return it and get another color?" he asked, trying to keep his voice casual. He unscrewed the lid of the rubbing alcohol.

"W-what, Sarge…?"

"My new coat. Do you like the color of it?"

"Yeah, I guess…"

"I still might return it, I think." Keroro carefully pulled the cloth away from Tamama's chest. It had already soaked through with blood. "I don't really like the fur lining on the inside of the hood. Do you?"

Before Tamama had a chance to answer, Keroro grit his teeth and upended the bottle over the gash on Tamama's chest.

The private let out a strangled scream as the rubbing alcohol scorched the wound. It hurt worse than the initial pain from receiving the injury had. It felt like he had been set on fire.

He tried and failed to contain further yells as the pain washed over him in awful waves.

Finally, the burn subsided some and Tamama was able to keep himself quiet. He gasped for air and squeezed his hands into fists.

"I'm so sorry, Tamama," Keroro whispered tearfully as he looked around for a bandage. He finally found one large enough for Tamama's wound and he removed it from the foil cover. The packaging said that the gauze was dressed with a hemostatic agent, which the sergeant was pretty sure meant that it would stop the bleeding. Perfect.

He covered the wound up with the nice white gauze that stank of antiseptic, and breathed a slight sigh of relief. The hard part was over; now Tamama just had to rest.

"You're going to be fine now, private," Keroro said, sounding more cheerful than he had in hours. He took Tamama's hand in his own and Tamama gave it a feeble squeeze in return. "As soon as Giroro or Dororo brings our sergeant major back, we can go home." A shadow fell over Keroro's face as he reminded himself about Dororo.

"How could he be so careless?" he murmured, starting to become angry all over again. He morosely played with Tamama's fingers for a few moments and then added in a bitter voice, "He can stay here, for all I care."

" _Sarge!"_ gasped Tamama hoarsely. Keroro didn't meet his eyes. "Dororo's our friend," said Tamama. "He didn't mean to hurt me… I think it was my fault."

Keroro finally looked at him. Tamama's youthful face was wan and miserable, and an aching sadness settled deep within him at the sight. No. This was unbearable. Keroro banished the excruciating sorrow and embraced his anger instead. It filled his stomach like a cup of something hot, giving him courage that he didn't really have and making his extremities tingle.

"It was the lance corporal's fault. Not yours. Don't argue with me," he said without making eye contact. "You need to rest, now, private."

Keroro stood and retrieved his shirt. He slowly put it back on and buttoned it up. "It's cold in here...," the sergeant mumbled flatly while Tamama glared at him.

* * *

 **yea**

 **(also, a note to whoever is reading my other fic, Corporal: I'm working on the next chapter and it should be uploaded very soon, probably within the next couple days~)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Be sure to leave a review~!**

* * *

Giroro gripped his knife tightly and listened; the muffled siren sounded like it was coming from every direction.

Whatever the alarm was meant for, it would probably attract Rurlough, so he and Kululu were suddenly in a lot more danger than they had been for a while. Giroro stood against the wall, his eyes flicking left and right down the hall. Kululu sat slumped on the ground next to him, weak and barely conscious.

They stayed like that for nearly twenty minutes, but no Rurlough ever showed itself. When the sound finally stopped, Giroro's muscles were aching from tension. He sheathed his knife and, with one last wary look around, picked up Kululu and continued along the tunnel without a word. He decided to put the siren out of his mind; as long as it wasn't going to cause them more trouble in the present moment, he could worry about it later.

Kululu's condition seemed to be getting even worse. He was groaning quietly and clearly having trouble breathing. Giroro began to deeply regret hitting him.

The sweltering heat and humidity of the tunnels below had previously been disguising the fact that the sergeant major's body was dry and burning with fever. After some time, he started to violently shiver even though the air wasn't cold. His breaths came in frequent, sharp gasps. He kept coughing, and every time he did, it sprayed the side of Giroro's face with blood.

Giroro quickened his pace. "Just hang in there, Kululu...," he said. He anxiously glanced down at the sergeant major and saw that blood was trickling from his mouth. The weight of the corporal's guilt was immense; he felt sure that Kululu's pain was due to his loss of temper.

He found another staircase and quickly climbed it, taking the steps two at a time. Giroro recognized this as being the same staircase they had come down earlier. By an amazing stroke of luck, he had made a huge circle.

By the time he had reached the top, Giroro was panting and nauseated, but he couldn't afford to rest for even a moment. He had to briefly drop Kululu's legs and support him with one arm while he fumbled with his flashlight and flicked it on. He looked at the ground and found the arrow they had marked earlier.

He stuck the flashlight in his mouth, lifted Kululu up in both arms again and broke into a run towards the direction that arrow pointed. The sergeant major's body had gone limp.

As Giroro ran, he could feel Kululu convulsing. He was tormented the entire way by the thought:

 _"If Kululu dies, it's my fault."_

* * *

Keroro sat cross-legged on the floor of the ship next to the still-supine Tamama. The discussion about Dororo had put Keroro in a bad mood, and he hadn't spoken a word to Tamama since then.

But, his concern for Tamama wouldn't allow him to remain silent forever. "How are you doing, private?" he asked finally.

Tamama groaned in response. That was to be expected, Keroro thought; an injury like that was sure to cause him pain for a while. But at least he wasn't bleeding anymore.

Keroro ruffled Tamama's hair affectionately and lapsed back into silence.

"Sarge," said Tamama after a moment, "would you really leave Lance Corporal Dororo here?"

Keroro sighed. "No, private. But I'm still mad at him!" he vociferated, crossing his arms.

"He and Giroro have been gone a long time…," mumbled Tamama. "Maybe we should go after them…"

"No! We can't! You have to stay here, private!" Keroro asserted. "One or both of them will be back with Kululu shortly; we just have to wait."

Unexpectedly, a loud _BANG_ came from the door of the ship. With a start, Keroro scrambled to his feet. He cast an anxious look at his wounded companion and called out sharply, "Who's there?!"

His call was answered by loud cursing. "Corporal!" cried Keroro, recognizing the voice. He hurried to the defective door and helped Giroro force it open.

"We were just talking about you," Keroro began, but Giroro wasn't listening. He rushed in past the sergeant and hurriedly laid Kululu's seizing body on the floor. His pallid face looked even worse in the ship's lighting.

"Sergeant major...!" Keroro gasped in horror. "What happened? Giroro, what happened to him?!" Keroro grabbed Giroro's shoulders and shook him a little.

" _What the hell do you think?_ " Giroro asked incredulously. " _It was the Rurlough, you idiot!_ " His voice sounded unnaturally shrill.

Kululu's back was arching off the floor and an awful retching sound was coming from his throat. His left pupil was so dilated that they could barely see the iris, and his right pupil was constricted to a mere pinpoint. It made him look quite deranged.

Blood-stained, foamy saliva poured from his mouth while his limbs shook and his body horribly convulsed. He reached one of his pale hands over and grasped the corporal's shirt. Automatically, Giroro covered Kululu's hand with his own.  
Kululu gagged and coughed again, splattering blood down his front.

This continued for several seconds before he shuddered, and after a few seconds, his muscles seemed to be starting to relax. He wasn't trembling as hard, and his breathing eased up a little bit. He squeezed his eyes shut as he struggled to draw air into his lungs, which felt strangely compressed.

Keroro sat down shakily and edged closer to the suffering man. Feeling ill, he looked over Kululu's bruised and swollen ribs and the deep gashes on his head.  
"... What have they been doing to him?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"I don't know... surgeries, I think... He said that they've been taking DNA from his brain or something," Giroro responded, gazing with worry at the frail sergeant major. "That's why they came and got him; they think they can make themselves smarter somehow." He looked up. "Keroro, he said that he knew that something like this was going to happen to him."

"No, he _couldn't have_!" retorted Keroro, shaking his head. "Why would he-? Why would he-?!" He gestured wildly while he spoke and sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

Giroro glanced down at Kululu. The sergeant major still had a firm hold on his shirt. He looked exhausted and was clearly in a lot of pain.

Giroro wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and tried to control the panic that he'd been feeling for hours now. He had gotten Kululu back. The hard part was over. Now, if Kululu was just able to hold on a little longer until they got him to a doctor…

He looked around, doing a brief head count. Kululu, Keroro, Tamama ( _how did the private sustain that gash on his chest?_ ), Dororo… No, wait, Dororo wasn't there. Immediately, Giroro's panic returned at full force. "Where the hell is Dororo?!"

Keroro's face set into a stony expression. "He almost killed Tamama," the sergeant answered after a pause. "We left him down in the tunnels."

"What?!

"I ran out in front of him; it was an _accident_ ," Tamama said with a pointed look at Keroro.

"He should have been more careful!" Keroro snapped.

"That doesn't matter!" Giroro said angrily. Keroro glared at him. "You shouldn't have left him down there, because _now we can't leave until one of us goes and finds him!_ "

Keroro closed his mouth. Giroro had a point.

"You and Tamama are going to stay here and make sure this one," he pointed at Kululu, "doesn't die. I'm going to go get Dororo, and then we're getting the hell out of here."

A slight crease formed between Kululu's eyebrows. His grip on Giroro's shirt tightened in protest.

"Knock it off," Giroro said without looking at him. He roughly pushed the sergeant major's hand off of him and stood up. His muscles ached and his head pounded with fatigue.

Keroro stared at him with a mixture of horror and respect for a moment before saluting him grimly. "Be careful, corporal," he said in a quiet voice.

"I'll be back soon," Giroro told him. And he walked out the door.

* * *

 **:/**


	17. Chapter 17

Once Giroro was back outside, he turned his flashlight on and rushed off in the direction of the staircase he'd just brought Kululu up.

He located the entrance in the gloom and hastily descended. As his eyes adjusted again to the dim light he began to glance around in apprehension, expecting to encounter a Rurlough at every turn.

But there was a disturbing lack of aliens in the tunnels. There were rooms to the sides of the path here and there, but they all were empty. It was so quiet that Giroro could hear the blood rushing in his ears.

He came across a room that held at least a hundred Rurlough bodies, all who appeared to have been killed with a sword. Giroro decided that he was probably going the right way.

He turned left at the next fork in the path and hurried along it. "Come on, Dororo, where are you...?" Giroro muttered to himself as he practically ran through the halls. There was no sound except for his footsteps, until suddenly he heard the sound of a shout. It sounded like…

"Dororo?" Giroro called as he looked around. He'd heard the cry coming from up ahead. He sped up, racing along the stone path.

"Dororo!" he shouted.

"Giroro?" he heard the lance corporal reply.

"Oh, thank g-" Giroro broke off as he fell through a hole. "WHY THE HELL IS THAT THERE?!" he exclaimed angrily.

"I just fell through that hole a few moments ago," Dororo said. "I'm so glad to see you! I've been alone for hours… Are you okay?" Giroro couldn't see him for the cloud of dust that had appeared after he had fallen.

"Ugh," Giroro grunted. "I'm fine." He stood up and brushed himself off. The dust had dissipated a bit now, and he could see Dororo's relieved face. "We have to go," Giroro said. "Right now. Everyone else is back at the ship. We have to get out of here." He started walking back the direction he'd come from.

"But what about Kululu?"

"He's there too. Now, come _on_!"

"You found him?!" asked Dororo in astonishment. He hurried along and began to keep pace with Giroro. "He's okay, right?" he inquired, looking over Giroro's bloody face and clothes with concern.

"No, he's not okay," Giroro replied as they walked. "They've been doing stuff to him these past weeks; he's really sick. He even had a seizure right before I left to come get you."

Dororo couldn't even speak. Shocked and appalled, he moved forward in silence.

After making their way back to the floor above them, it wasn't long before they found the staircase. _I'm getting pretty good at maneuvering this place,_ thought Giroro.

When they began ascending, Dororo finally asked hesitantly, "Do you think he'll live?" His voice was heavy with sorrow.

Giroro didn't answer.

After a while, they reached the top of the staircase and emerged into the darkness. Giroro grabbed his flashlight and went to turn it on, but Dororo put his arm out and said, "Wait. Do you hear that?"

Giroro listened. He had previously been too distracted to notice, but now he could hear the deafening clicking of what must be thousands of Rurlough crowded around them on the surface of the planet. " _Oh, shit..._ ," he breathed.

Giroro and Dororo still stood partially in the stairwell; it allowed for some distance between them and the close-pressing monsters. They knew they were invisible to the Rurlough, but neither Keronian dared even breathe.

Giroro felt Dororo grip his arm. They peered out into the black with a sense of unease. Whatever was motivating the Rurlough to congregate in this way could only be bad news.

Dororo leaned closer to Giroro. "We have to move," he said just loud enough for Giroro to hear.

"But we can't see," hissed Giroro uneasily.

"I can guide us through," replied the lance corporal, "but we have to be fast."

Giroro took a breath. "Okay," he finally agreed. A moment passed tensely.

"Now!" said Dororo.

Then, as quickly as they could in order to avoid capture, the two of them dashed out of their refuge and into the wall of Rurlough bodies.


	18. Chapter 18

**┌( ಠ‿ಠ)┘**

* * *

Keroro sat anxiously between his two injured comrades, restlessly drumming his fingers on his knees. He glanced down at Tamama for the hundredth time to make sure he was alright.

"Tamama?" he asked.

"I'm okay, Sarge," Tamama responded wearily. He felt completely drained. After a moment he sat up slowly, grimacing in pain, and scooted closer to Keroro.

"You need to lie back down, private," Keroro ordered not entirely with conviction as Tamama nestled his head under his chin.

Tamama didn't reply and instead gazed down at Kululu. His breathing was shallow and his mouth and bare chest shone with blood.

"Maybe we should clean some of that blood off..." Tamama said, gesturing to Kululu.

Keroro blanched. "Oh, well... I think - shouldn't we leave him alone?" he replied in a shaky voice.

"I dunno."

Suddenly there came from Kululu what sounded like an attempt at speech.

"What is it, Kululu?" asked Keroro, leaning over him in concern.

"Don't..." he was saying.

"What?"

"Don't... need your help." Kululu spoke in a gurgling wheeze. He looked feverish. Delirium was setting in.

His eyes had been squeezed shut but now he opened them and looked around in desperation, although he could hardly see a foot in front of his face.

"Where...?" he began, but he was interrupted when Keroro tentatively put a hand to his forehead.

"You're burning up...," said Keroro unhappily, stroking Kululu's hair like a worried mother. Kululu weakly pushed his hand aside.

"Where is he?" demanded Kululu.

"Who?" Tamama asked, frowning slightly.

Kululu's breathing sped up a little and a panicked look crossed over his face. " _Oh, my go-od_ ," he moaned and started to sit up. "... _He's going to die_..."

"He's delirious!" whispered Keroro aside to Tamama.

By now Kululu had somehow managed to stand, despite the intense pain coursing through his body. He tried to take a step toward the door, but he reeled and fell over.

"Kululu, what are you doing?! You can't go out there, no sir!" Keroro insisted. Kululu, having passed out on the floor, didn't respond to this.

"Dammit, he's out again...," said Tamama.

"This is all very troublesome," complained Keroro with a sigh.

He grabbed the unconscious Kululu and ungracefully dragged him away from the door.

Keroro sat back down and folded his arms thoughtfully. He absentmindedly gazed out the window, but it was, of course, too dark for him to see anything.

But he now realized that he could hear something. It was loud and getting even louder. The volume had probably been rising for the past several minutes although no one had even taken notice of it.

The unmistakable clicking of thousands of Rurlough reverberated through the ship like applause.

* * *

Dororo quickly arrived at the conclusion that he and Giroro had never been in a more terrifying situation.

His particular skillset included the ability to move around in the dark using senses other than sight, so he was able to lead Giroro through the crowd. But as the two men squeezed between the Rurlough they were intensely aware of the danger.

The tremendous power beheld by the creatures was awe-inspiring in a way that made one ill to think about.

Giroro and Dororo were knocked over once or twice by the sheer force of the moving bodies alone. Although the men were quick, and had avoided capture so far, they knew that if one of the Rurlough grabbed ahold of them it would be mere seconds before they were crushed or torn apart.

Dororo could feel himself shaking; he was sure that he would have been able to hear his own heartbeat had the sound of the Rurlough not been so deafening. It was like listening to a grotesque choir of insects.

The cool undulating mass that they could feel but not see pressing against them smothered any chance of a coherent thought in either Keronian's mind.

Death, usually a foreign concept, was now surreally imminent.

Keroro and Tamama were clutching each other on the floor, shaking. "There - there must be thousands!" gasped Keroro.

"Sarge, what are we gonna do?!" asked Tamama in a high voice. His gaze was fixed on the door of the ship.

Just then Keroro went very white. "They're still out there... Giroro and Dororo..." he whispered. Tamama turned to him, alarmed. Keroro's eyes were glazed over with dread. "What if they're dead? Tamama, what if they're dead?!" he said in a shrill rasp.

"No, no, no, don't say that! Oh, Sarge, _don't_ say that! They can't be!" Tamama replied frantically.

Keroro stared at him, his mouth slightly open. "We have to wait for them... We can't leave without them..." he said dully. His face was pale and expressionless.

Tamama nodded almost imperceptibly, a sinking feeling in his stomach. Keroro stood and looked out the window. He could see nothing but his own hollow expression reflected back at him.

"What are we gonna do if the Rurlough reach us first?" Tamama asked quietly. "... Sarge?"

Keroro didn't answer.

Giroro and Dororo had caused too much of a disturbance. They had not made it far through the crowd before the Rurlough had begun to attack them.

The two of them were back to back, killing every Rurlough that they sensed coming upon them. The sound of blood splattering was sickening. They were sure that they were now covered in white, although they could not see it.

As Dororo cut through the creatures with his katana he could hear the crack of Giroro's gunshots resounding across the landscape. With each blast, a flash of pink light briefly illuminated the Rurlough closing in on them.

Suddenly Dororo heard Giroro yell in pain, and the corporal's gun was silenced, the sporadic light snuffed out.

Something had happened to Giroro. Dororo could not feel him against his back anymore. He swayed on the spot.

 _No, no, no! Please!_ his mind screamed fervently as he continued to fight as if he were on autopilot. _Don't let him die!_

Then, he heard the gunshots again.

Giroro had been pulled away and his arm had been twisted painfully in the grasp of a Rurlough, but he had quickly dispatched it and begun firing around again. Dororo, encouraged by the fact that Giroro was alive, fought back with renewed energy.

As the Rurlough closed in around them, one fully formed thought broke through each Keronian's adrenaline-charged mind.

There was at least a chance that the others had been able to get away.

* * *

 **(◕‿◕)**


	19. Chapter 19

**We're uploadin' faaaast now~**

* * *

Later, neither Giroro nor Dororo would be able to recall how they had managed it, but at last they stumbled forward from the depths of the crowd of Rurlough, tripping over their feet. They did not stop moving.

They could still hear the creatures all around them and knew that the clearing that they now found themselves in was going to close in on them before long.

Abruptly, Dororo stopped. "Wait!" he cried.

"What?"

Dororo took Giroro's wrist and pulled him forward a few feet, lifting his arm up. Giroro's palm struck something metallic. "It's the ship!" he exclaimed.

They began to frantically feel their way around the ship in search of the entrance. "Here it is!" Dororo said and began to try to open the door.

It would not budge.

" _PIECE OF SHIT DOOR!_ " Giroro bellowed and backed against the hull. He could sense the Rurlough getting closer. He braced himself for being torn apart at any moment.

"Come on!" Dororo said in a panicky voice. Giroro felt Dororo grab him and in a few dizzyingly swift motions they suddenly appeared to be standing on top of the vessel.

They could not enter the deck through the door, and breaking their way in through the hull would mean destroying their only means of transportation. They were trapped.

* * *

Keroro and Tamama waited in horrible anticipation of the swarm of Rurlough heading towards them.

They sat close together with their hands clasped, but after several minutes Keroro shakily pulled the private onto his lap.

Tamama leaned his head on the sergeant's shoulder, looking at his anxious face. He was white as a sheet and had broken out in a cold sweat. The private was a bit clammy himself, and he was starting to wonder if he was going to throw up again.

Tamama closed his eyes and after a few moments whispered, "I love you, Sarge."

"I love you too," Keroro replied quietly. He was so anxious that he wasn't fully aware of his surroundings, but his response was automatic.

He became conscious that there was movement near him on the floor and dully directed his attention to it.

Kululu appeared to be coming around; there was pain on the sergeant major's face as he made an effort to sit up. Ultimately, he was forced to remain where he lay. He just didn't have the strength to pull himself up any more. Horrible pain was throbbing in his head where the Rurlough had made their intrusions. Every time he drew breath his broken ribs protested the expansion, making his chest ache. Kululu groaned, obstinate, and stared at the ceiling.

Tamama suddenly realized that Kululu was still unaware of their impending doom. He tugged on Keroro's sleeve.

Keroro was still and quiet. There was distance in his eyes, like he was focused on some far-off point. "The Rurlough are coming for us," he informed Kululu in a monotone voice.

The sergeant major stared at Keroro blankly with his mouth open for several seconds before blinking sluggishly and asking, "Huh?" His face was flushed red from his fever.

"The Rurlough. There's a big crowd of them heading right toward us," Tamama repeated.

There was no show of surprise in Kululu's expression except for a slight raising of the eyebrows. "That's not good," he returned blandly. He could now hear the roar of the horde through the ringing in his ears.

Keroro reached over and felt Kululu's forehead again. His skin radiated heat and was very dry. The sergeant major was obviously dehydrated. Keroro and Tamama had considered giving him water, but since the sergeant major was coughing up blood, they thought that it might not be a good idea.

With what little energy Kululu had left, he brushed Keroro's hand away angrily. He was getting rather tired of everyone's fussing over him.

"What's-the plan?" he panted after a moment. Keroro shook his head in response. There was no plan, Kululu gathered.

He settled back down on the floor. A peculiar numbness had encompassed him now; he felt strangely comfortable and sleepy. The metallic taste of blood in his mouth that had previously been making him feel sick didn't even seem to be present anymore. He offhandedly wondered if he was dying. A few moments after this thought entered his head, he decided that he just didn't care anymore.

In fact, he didn't really care about anything. He vaguely remembered that there had been something that was making him uneasy. He drowsily decided that it was because something was missing, but he couldn't recall what. He reasoned that it would do no good to allow it to trouble him now, and he promptly slipped into a feverish dream state.

A confused mix of images danced through Kululu's head. He watched this with amusement, knowing that it was all nonsense. But throughout the dream there were angry bursts of red, interrupting the parade of otherwise neutral pictures.

He did not like this color; it made him feel anxious. He tried to ignore it, but the relentless bombardment made it impossible. Red settled on his chest like a weight; it spilled out of his mouth.

Red was important. He knew that at the very least. But the reason eluded him. Now there was a shallow bowl near him. With a sense of relief Kululu picked it up. Maybe he should use it to scoop up some of the red.

But he did not have the chance. An abrupt flare of pain shot across his ribs and he awoke with a start.

He was met with a cacophony of groaning metal and shouting. The ship appeared to be shaking. The source of his sudden agony was made clear: Keroro had heavily tripped over him in a state of panic and was now clambering to his feet.

Kululu did not have to ask. He knew.

The Rurlough had reached the ship.

* * *

 ***dramatic music***

 **Be sure to leave a review and/or PM me with any questions you may have ~(^з^)~**

 **(JUUUUST A NOTE TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT NOT KNOW -**  
 **The word 'Rurlough' is pronounced Rurr-luff, to rhyme with bur and tough. Just in case anyone didn't know how to pronounce the gibberish name of our made up alien race c:)**


	20. Chapter 20

The metal alloy that the walls of the ship were constructed of was strong, but Giroro had no doubt that the Rurlough were capable of tearing it away. They had only minutes left.

The ship was rocking back and forth and the two Keronians strained to hold on.

"If the others don't leave soon, the Rurlough will tear the ship apart," Giroro called to Dororo over the clamor. _The ship won't be the only thing the Rurlough tear apart...,_ whispered a voice in his head. He wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand and added in a defeated sounding voice, "We have to tell them to just go!"

"Giroro...!"

"What else can we do?" the corporal gasped in a slightly hysterical tone.

Dororo didn't say anything.

Just as Giroro was about to contact Keroro he was startled by the sergeant's horrified voice coming over his earpiece.

" _GIRORO, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU TWO?!_ "

"Keroro! Listen to me, you have to leave!"

There was a brief pause. "What?!" Keroro spat incredulously. "We can't leave you!"

"Yes you can! Leave, or the Rurlough are going to kill all of you!"

"But you guys are still out there!" Keroro sobbed. "They'll kill you too!"

" _Sergeant Keroro, you get the hell out of here right now!_ "

* * *

Keroro began to hyperventilate. His eyes darted around the cockpit as if groping for a way out.

On the floor near the unconscious Kululu was Tamama, watching the sergeant helplessly, terrified that he was losing his grip.

Then, without warning, Keroro flew to the control board and began flipping switches. The ship beeped and shuddered as it started up.

"Sarge! SARGE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" shrieked Tamama as he leapt to his feet.

"LEAVING!" Keroro shouted at him.

Tamama jumped nimbly onto Keroro's back and wrestled him to the floor. "NO! YOU _SAID_! YOU FUCKING _SAID_ WE WERE WAITING FOR THEM!" the private wailed.

" _Stop it, Tamama!_ " yelled Keroro with a grunt as he grappled with him. But Tamama was strong; the sergeant was unable to throw him off.

Tamama sat on Keroro's chest, tightly gripping his wrists. " _Sarge_ ," he gasped, " _stop being so stupid!_ "

"GET OFF OF ME, PRIVATE!"

But Tamama never got the chance to argue, because at that moment the air exploded.

It was the loudest sound any of them had ever heard; it was like a high, everlasting shriek that could not be dampened even by the walls of the ship. It impaled the Keronians' ears like icicles.

Keroro saw Tamama lean back, clutching his head and wearing a blank wide stare like a deer in the headlights, his mouth open in a silent scream. In his shock, Keroro was not even fully aware that he had clapped his own hands over his ears.

" _OH, MY GOD!_ " the sergeant yelled, though there was no chance of anyone hearing his words.

The sound was sharp and the volume was unimaginable. Keroro's ears started to ache from the noise. A horrible pressure was building up in his head, making him feel dizzy.

Agony suddenly erupted in his ears and he gasped. It was shocking, excruciating pain that staggered him.

He brought his hands down; they were covered in blood. His ears were ringing loudly and still hurt terribly, but at least the sound had stopped.

But if the sound stopped, then why was Tamama still on him, shaking, with his hands still clasped over his ears and showing no signs of relief?

Oh. Keroro realized that the sound hadn't stopped, and that he was just deaf. His eardrums had burst.

The private's eyes were squeezed shut and he looked like he was shouting something, but no matter how much he yelled Keroro would not be able to hear him.

* * *

Up on top of the ship, Giroro and Dororo were experiencing the same suffering.

"STOP! STOP! STOP!" Giroro yelled against the sound, to no effect. He was bent forward on his knees with his hands pressed firmly over his ears.

And then, his wish was granted; his eardrums burst painfully and he could no longer hear anything at all save for an annoying internal ringing.

In bitter gratitude he unfolded his body. At least he didn't have to listen to that wretched sound anymore. Though since they were about to be brutally killed by the Rurlough anyway, he guessed that it didn't matter.

He could feel something leaking from his ears. Blood, he supposed. He groped around for Dororo, and when he couldn't immediately find him, he felt a sick feeling of fear drop in his chest.

But then his outstretched hand found the lance corporal, who was shuddering on his knees as Giroro had been. Obviously he was still being tormented by the sound.

It was more violent than an earthquake. The air itself seemed to vibrate. Dororo curled forward in agony until his head touched the cool metal of the ship. He could feel himself screaming but he could not hear his own voice above the shrieking of the Rurlough. It felt as though the sound was rattling inside his skeleton.

Giroro, who could neither hear nor see, began to feel a strange sensation of detachment from his body. He wondered if he was dying, or even already dead, and his thoughts drifted to Natsumi. He held them there, clung to the memory of her like she was going to keep him alive…

Then, slowly, the shaking began to cease. Gradually, Dororo's pain faded as everything became quiet. He removed his trembling hands from his head and tried to listen. Only the sound of his own breathing met his ears.

Giroro noticed no change. Still in a dreamlike state, he did not move or react until Dororo touched him.

Feeling dizzy and faint, Dororo tried desperately to communicate, but Giroro couldn't hear him. So the lance corporal just held onto him and tried to convey it without words: the danger seemed to have passed.

Keroro had placed his hands over Tamama's, and together they both tried to block out the sound as much as they could until it either stopped or the private's eardrums burst as well.

After a few minutes, the two started to notice that the ship wasn't rocking as violently, and then Tamama suddenly looked up. He put his hands down and said something, but when he saw that Keroro couldn't hear him, he carefully mouthed it out. "It stopped."

"What? Really?!" Keroro said.

Tamama nodded, and carefully climbed off of Keroro. They both stood apprehensively. The private shook his head with a confused looking expression, and clearly asked, "What happened?"

With a start, Keroro remembered that Giroro and Dororo were still outside. He reminded Tamama, and watched as the private's eyes widened and he shouted, "Giroro!" over his communicator, but there was no answer.

"Try Dororo!" Keroro instructed Tamama in earnest.

He watched as Tamama began speaking with his hand pressed to the earpiece under the flap of his hat. The private was quiet for a moment, looking like he was listening. Then his face broke out into a weak smile. Keroro read his lips: "They're okay!"

* * *

Dororo exhaled slowly, feeling himself calm down; everyone had made it through. He squinted out into the dark, trying to understand exactly what had happened.

The Rurlough seemed to have emitted the intense, collective scream in order to cripple the platoon and prevent them from leaving. That much he had figured out. But moments ago the sound had begun to gradually die down until he was able to uncover his ears. Now, everything was eerily silent.

Dororo reached for his flashlight, but realized that it was missing. He supposed that it must have fallen when they were pushing through the crowd of Rurlough.

Luckily, Giroro had the same idea and flicked his own flashlight on. Dororo caught a quick glimpse of the corporal before he directed the beam of light towards the ground below. As Dororo watched, Giroro stood up and walked to the edge, looking over the side.

He suddenly turned to Dororo with a perplexed expression on his face before turning again and jumping down to the dusty ground.

The lance corporal called out a pointless warning before hurrying to the edge and following the corporal.

He landed lightly on the soil next to Giroro and looked around. What he saw by the yellowish beam of the flashlight astonished him.

All around them lay collapsed Rurlough. Many of them were completely motionless but some appeared to be twitching. Giroro tilted the light higher; the creatures in the distance were also on the ground.

"They're dying...," said Dororo to himself.

Indeed, as they watched, several of the creatures that were alive fell still. Giroro and Dororo stood there in the gloom for several minutes while the movement of all Rurlough ceased entirely. Everything was quiet. No more Rurlough emerged from underground to attack them.

They did not know how or why, but the ordeal was over.


	21. Chapter 21

**Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for all the nice reviews! It really warms my heart :)**

 **Now here's something to break yours~**

* * *

Even though most of the Rurlough were dead, it was still very urgent that the platoon escape. Giroro and Dororo hurried over to the entrance to the ship.

"Keroro, help us open the door!" the lance corporal shouted.

It was Tamama who answered. "Hold on!" There was a pause while he struggled, and then he forced the door open from the inside. "What's going on out there?" he asked a little breathlessly as Dororo and Giroro stepped aboard. Keroro was hastily preparing the ship for flight now; they were finally going to leave the godforsaken planet.

"They've all collapsed!" replied Dororo. "They just started dying, all at once. I don't understand it," he added gravely.

Giroro noticed with pity how weary Dororo looked. In fact, the whole group was a little worse for wear. The gash across Tamama's chest was red and angry. The whites of Keroro's eyes were bloody and he had dark circles under them. And, of course, Giroro was sure that he himself didn't look too good either.

He wondered how Kululu was doing and looked around for him. When he sighted him he froze, speechless.

Kululu was lying on the floor a few feet away. Seeing his body being completely motionless, the line of drying blood coming from his mouth, and his paper-white skin, Giroro was positive that he was dead.

The corporal dropped to his knees beside Kululu and put two fingers to his throat... and he felt nothing. No pulse. Giroro pressed his hand to the sergeant major's bloodied chest and groped his wrist but still could not feel his heart beating.

Giroro could see the others talking and feel the ship begin to move, but he didn't register any of it. He didn't even really notice when Dororo knelt on Kululu's other side and tried to tell Giroro something. But it didn't matter. What mattered was that if he didn't do something then Kululu would be lost.

He wasn't going to let that happen.

He tilted Kululu's head back slightly before instructing Dororo to support his neck.

When Giroro was younger, Garuru had taught him how to perform CPR; he remembered vividly how much his brother had stressed its importance. Giroro had never had to use this skill since his brother was teaching him, but he still remembered how.

He pinched Kululu's nostrils closed and only hesitated a fraction of a second before placing his mouth over the sergeant major's.

Giroro breathed air into Kululu's lungs and then pumped the sergeant major's chest with the heels of his hands to push it out again. He repeated this. He did it again, and again, and again.

What if he really did _die?_ Giroro asked himself this and his mind feverishly and unwelcomely displayed to him over a decade's worth of memories of Kululu, enough for him to torture himself with for the rest of his life if he wanted to.

And what if he lived? What difference would it make, really? The man hardly ever emerged from his dungeon of a hideout under the house, and when he did it was only to disrupt the lives of those around him or to scavenge curry supplies. Kululu was truly a lunatic. Living without him would probably be easier.

But a kind of manic desperation controlled Giroro, driving his entire being into relentless effort. It choreographed his motions. It instilled in Giroro a concrete certainty that keeping Kululu alive was what he had been preparing for since he was born.

Yet Kululu lay still and quiet, unresponsive. "Come _on!"_ Giroro pleaded out loud, unable to hear himself. He felt his breath catching in his throat. He glimpsed the other three platoon members watching the scene ashen-faced and speechless, Dororo while still holding Kululu's head up.

But just as Giroro leaned over Kululu's face again, suddenly Kululu gave a little cough. Giroro jumped back and watched as if through a haze as the sergeant major started taking what deep breaths his mangled body would allow.

Almost spasmodically, Giroro grabbed his arm and blurted, "Kululu!"

Kululu wheezed for a few moments and settled down. At length he looked up and met Giroro's eyes with a strange expression.

Giroro sat back, staring at Kululu in astonishment as the others began to cry and fuss over the sergeant major.

He was alive.

* * *

 **:'\**


	22. Chapter 22

**oh boy oh boy oh boy**

* * *

The platoon decided to bring Kululu to Mepki so that he could receive medical treatment from Pururu. But even though she was the nearest doctor, the trip to Mepki would still take over two days. And that was a long time for someone who was dying.

Keroro was worried that the sergeant major would slip away if they let him sleep, so he prompted Tamama and Dororo, who were not currently deaf, to talk to Kululu and make sure he didn't fall unconscious again. The others weren't certain if this was the smartest thing to do, but since no one knew for sure they did it anyway.

After the first day, Giroro's and Keroro's hearing started to come back, little by little, and after about thirty-six hours was completely restored (although the ringing sound was still present).

Kululu spent the hours in a fitful state. When he wasn't seizing he was lying in silent agony. He was still feverish, something that concerned Keroro greatly.

"We don't have much time!" he told Giroro aside, eyeing Kululu anxiously from across the room. "No, sir, he does not look well."

"We'll be there soon...," Giroro mumbled. He was exhausted, body and mind.

He didn't feel real; there were so many times in the past twenty-four hours that he could have died. The fact that they had rescued Kululu and had escaped from the Rurlough somehow still seemed improbable. Giroro felt that he could not even trust the floor beneath his feet.

Keroro, still looking uneasy, went to sit next to Kululu. He raised his hand as though he was wanted to stroke Kululu's hair or perhaps feel his forehead yet again, but the sergeant thought better of it upon noticing Kululu's expression of aversion and awkwardly pulled his hand back. Tamama patted his leg sympathetically.

Keroro looked over Kululu's injuries sadly. "Sergeant major?" he asked, to which Kululu responded with a low groan. The sergeant bit his lip. "You're gonna be okay," he said in a slightly choked voice. "Just hang in there."

Giroro realized that Keroro's words echoed what he himself had been telling Kululu earlier.

Kululu must have subconsciously recognized the familiarity of the phrase too, because after a pause he replied with, "Whatever you say, corporal."

Keroro frowned. "What?"

Kululu didn't answer. He was probably too exhausted.

* * *

At last, at the close of the second agonizing hypothetical day, the platoon's ship touched down softly upon the grassy terrain of planet Mepki.

It was nighttime across the hemisphere of the planet where Garuru and his platoon were stationed. But this darkness was hushed and dreamy, quite unlike the all-consuming pitch of the Rurlough planet. The long, delicate blades of grass were daintily illuminated by the pale lemon glow of Mepki's moon.

But the tranquil atmosphere wasn't enough to dispel the apprehension felt by the whole platoon. Kululu was still in critical condition and he wasn't going to be able to last much longer if they didn't get him help.

By the time they arrived, Kululu had started throwing up blood again. Although, all of it wasn't completely fluid like you'd expect. Instead, it was a slurry of liquid blood, a disgusting red gelatinous material, and what resembled coffee grounds. In between bouts of spitting up blood, he was muttering things to himself that didn't relate to anything or even make sense. At times it sounded like he was having a conversation with someone who wasn't there. It was very unnerving and made everyone else sick with worry.

* * *

Once Keroro and Dororo had forced the stubborn door open, Giroro bent down to pick up Kululu. But as soon as he began to lift the sergeant major's limp form Giroro realized that he lacked the energy to carry him. After all, he hadn't slept in several days and he had overexerted himself on the Rurlough planet.

The corporal looked around at the others; they looked as though they hardly had enough strength to stand.

He swore and stood back up before exiting the ship and setting off at a run (or, rather, a fast-paced walk, he was too exhausted to actually _run_ ) toward the tent in the distance, a dark silhouette against the starry sky.

It was a windy night on Mepki; the wispy grasses danced around and rustled solemnly, licking Giroro's shins as he sped through them. The breeze was comfortably warm. It reminded Giroro of summer nights on Pekopon and made him ache to be home.

"Garuru!" he gasped as he neared the tent.

After a moment he saw a light come on inside, and when he reached the tent Giroro entered without pausing.

He nearly ran into Garuru, who stood there holding a lantern in one hand and a gun in the other. "Giroro?!" Garuru exclaimed, looking very alarmed. The lieutenant was in his underwear and had obviously just been asleep. He observed Giroro's bloodied clothes and pale complexion. "What is it?" he asked with growing concern.

"There's no time. You have to come with me!" Giroro said loudly and left. Not hesitating, Garuru followed his brother outside and the two of them ran back to the ship.

The others were waiting for them. "He doesn't look good," Tamama told Giroro.

The corporal groaned and led Garuru over to Kululu. "H-he... he... I-I can't carry him anymore..." He supposed that under normal circumstances, he might be humiliated to have to ask his brother to help him carry someone as lightweight as Kululu. However, there was too much panic in his mind to have any such thought.

Garuru stood there for a split second, staring at Kululu's injuries in shock, before leaning down, easily lifting the sergeant major up, and carrying him out in a hurry.

* * *

Ten minutes later everyone was inside the tent. Pururu had been roused and was now tending to Kululu, who lay on a surgical bed in the main room. Keroro had been hovering anxiously over them until Pururu shooed him away; now he and the others sat around the edge of the room.

He looked defeatedly at his platoon. Each one of them looked as if he were about to nod off at any second. Garuru must have noticed this as well because he said, "You should all get some sleep, sergeant. We'll take care of him." He gestured at Kululu.

"But-" Keroro began to protest.

"He's right, Keroro," said Giroro in a weary voice. Keroro looked at him and sighed; Giroro had dark circles under his eyes and he knew he must have them too.

"We have some spare mats for you," offered Garuru, and he left to get them. On his way by, he leaned near his brother and said in an undertone, "You can tell me everything in the morning," to which Giroro nodded.

Soon the four of them had arranged their mats on the floor a polite distance from the medic and her patient, who had started moaning in pain a few minutes ago. The only source of light in the tent now was a dim lamp by the bed.

Keroro and Tamama dozed off immediately, lying close together. Giroro grinned at them tiredly and arranged himself as comfortably as he could on his mat.

Before he lay down, Giroro glimpsed Kululu on the bed. The image of his tormented face was imprinted on Giroro's eyes as he fell asleep.


	23. Chapter 23

After some nights of sleep the four uninjured platoon members regained their usual liveliness. And, much to Keroro's relief, Tamama had quickly begun to heal after having his injury stitched up by Pururu. But it was clear that Kululu was going to need much more time to recover.

He was in such poor shape that Pururu was running quite ragged. Tororo's training had to be postponed to allow the doctor to devote all her attention to mending Kululu, something that the young recruit complained about (but, they noticed, looking suspiciously less surly than usual).

It was the morning following the platoon's landing that Tororo saw his rival's condition for the first time. "What happened to him?" he asked with obvious revulsion.

"The Rurlough did this to him," answered Giroro curtly.

Tororo's already pasty skin paled. He did not speak a word for the rest of the time that they were there.

Pururu managed to bring Kululu's temperature down within the first few hours of treatment. She said that it looked like he had heatstroke. The platoon cringed when they heard that. It sounded bad.

The medic admitted that it _was_ potentially life threatening, but it seemed only a minor problem when compared to his other injuries, which included extensive brain trauma, eight broken ribs and a fractured wrist, and internal bleeding (caused by one of his ribs tearing a hole in his stomach). Not to mention he had massive bruises nearly everywhere and the very real possibility of mental damage.

"Mental damage?" Keroro asked when Pururu told them this. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that he might develop emotional problems, difficulty with memory or even motor skills, things like that," she replied. "He has some pretty serious injuries to his brain."

"Oh, shit," Keroro mumbled.

"Also, it wouldn't surprise me if he experienced PTSD from this event."

"PTSD...," Giroro echoed.

"Post-traumatic stress disorder," Pururu said, nodding grimly.

The platoon exchanged miserable glances.

* * *

The days on Mepki passed sluggishly. Wanting to give Kululu some space the platoon tried to pass the time by setting about activities that they would normally engage in back home, despite feeling gloomy.

Giroro could often be seen brooding and cleaning his guns outside the tent, sometimes joined by his brother, while Dororo meditated among the tall grasses. Keroro, lacking any toy models to build or chores to do, was left to mope. He and Tamama halfheartedly began making out once, but soon succumbed to lethargy and abandoned the idea.

It was on the eighth day since their arrival that they received encouraging news at last.

The platoon was sitting outside watching the sunset. Electric shades of pink and orange spread luxuriously across the sky. There was something nostalgic about the colors, Keroro decided.

He was just daydreaming about being back at the Hinata house among his Gunpla when Pururu suddenly appeared at the flap of the tent.

"Sergeant Major Kululu is awake and speaking," she announced brightly.

They all jumped to their feet. "How's he doing?" Keroro asked at once.

"Better, but it will be a long time before he's completely healed," she replied. "You can come see him if you want."

Kululu was thin and withered and appeared as though he had never slept in his life, but he was indeed awake. He had been cleaned of blood and been expertly bandaged since that first night, a decided improvement. Even so, his comrades gathered near him with the gravity and trepidation of someone approaching the bed of a dying person.

"He-ey...," Kululu greeted quietly.

"Hey, sergeant major," Keroro replied. "How are you feeling?"

"Mm." Kululu looked down. "Better, I guess. I don't know."

The others exchanged looks. "We thought you were going to die," Tamama said softly.

Kululu adjusted himself so that he was sitting straighter and didn't reply. He looked uncomfortable. The clothes that Kululu had been wearing when they arrived to Mepki had been covered in blood and sweat, so Pururu had decided to remove them to reduce the risk of infection. His exposed skin was pallid and clammy-looking.

Pururu had been hovering nearby alongside Garuru, but now she moved to stand between Kululu and the rest of the platoon. "Alright, guys, I think he should get some rest now," she said briskly and began ushering them back out.

"Wait, Chief Medic," Garuru interposed, raising his hand. "I believe you could allow your patient a few minutes with his colleagues, couldn't you?" he suggested.

Pururu hesitated briefly before answering. "Yes, sir," she said with a dissatisfied look. She followed the lieutenant out of the tent, leaving the platoon alone.

They were all silent for a few moments, and then Keroro unexpectedly reached out and touched Kululu's shoulder.

Kululu jumped slightly when the sergeant moved toward him so abruptly, but didn't say anything.

Dororo finally broke the awkward silence. "Pururu told us that you should be able to go home soon."

"Yeah." Kululu didn't look up when he replied. " _In nearly three more weeks..._ ," he said in a bitter undertone.

Keroro patted his shoulder. "Well, that's not that much longer!" he told Kululu cheerily, though the sergeant's face betrayed some discouragement.

There was a pause. Tamama opened his mouth as if to say something, closed it again, and finally, regaining his nerve, asked, "What... what happened to you when you were there, Kululu?" He looked like a troubled child, his dark eyes wide and reflective.

Kululu laughed and sneered in his general direction.

"Do you really want to know?"

A hush followed as an uneasy feeling settled on the other members of the platoon. Kululu smirked at them before turning his gaze up to the canvas above him, as if reminiscing a fond memory.

"The Rurlough teleported with me back to their planet, having advanced beyond using ships. They explained ever so nicely that I was to help them overcome their period of stagnant evolution. I'm a genius and they wanted to be like me." He spoke leisurely and with relish, maintaining a disquieting air of sinister amusement.

"So, they split open my skull to see what it is that makes my brain so special. They even removed tissue for cloning purposes. They managed to keep me alive through all of it, of course, because dead brain matter wouldn't do them any good," he explained with a grin.

"Though," he added, "I have the feeling that they were planning on doing away with me once they finished their business." He paused, blinked a few times and then went on. "When they performed the surgeries, they used some kind of advanced laser to make deep incisions-"

"Sergeant major," Keroro interrupted. Kululu fell quiet and turned to him. He was standing stiffly with his eyes squeezed firmly shut. "Please stop."

Kululu did stop. He blearily gazed around at the four of them; they looked positively ill. Kululu scoffed and muttered something that sounded like, "How boring."

No one could think of anything to say for several tense moments. Keroro shifted in discomfort, folding his arms behind his back, and then said pointedly, "Ah, well, it was nice speaking with you, Sergeant Major Kululu. We'll just let you rest now."

He took a few steps backward, smiling at Kululu in a strained way, and then turned and led the way to the exit. The others followed hesitantly. Giroro glanced at Kululu before he left; the sergeant major's expression was unreadable.

They emerged back into the light and the open air. The sun had not yet fully sunk behind the horizon. But, Keroro thought, somehow the sky seemed to have lost its radiance.

* * *

 **:(**


	24. Chapter 24

**It'll be a few days before we upload again, not too long though. In comparison to how often we've been uploading, I guess it'll seem long :P A new chapter of my other fic is coming soon as well.**

* * *

Pururu seemed eager to get Kululu back to earth as soon as possible, so once she deemed the sergeant major healed enough to make the trip, she started urging the platoon to go home.

"I think you guys could leave today if you want to," she told them one day in the third week since their arrival to Mepki. She was examining Kululu with a satisfied look on her face while the others stood by.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Keroro, beaming. "We'll leave tonight!"

The prospect of finally being able to go home lifted everyone's spirits considerably. They would leave late to allow for any last-minute treatment that Kululu might need; but it was hard to wait for the night to arrive.

The air was warm as the platoon finally headed across the field toward their ship. They had to move slowly to allow Kululu to keep up with them.

Kululu, dressed in a too-big shirt and pants borrowed from Garuru, shuffled along sulkily while Giroro supported him.

Garuru and Pururu were walking the group to the ship to see them off, Pururu while rattling off instructions to Keroro. "... and don't forget to change his bandages _frequently_ ," she was saying, to which Keroro impatiently nodded. "Also, make sure he takes his medication. I'm worried that he might forget..."

"Yes, Pururu, we've got it!"

"Okay, well... if it seems like he's having problems, contact me and I'll come down there."

"Thank you," Dororo told her.

"Yeah, thanks for everything," said Giroro, looking at his brother. "We really appreciate it."

He and the others saluted Garuru and Pururu, who returned the gesture.

Soon the platoon was inside the ship, leaving the grassy planet behind and heading for home at last.

* * *

No one seemed to remember the return trip later; they had all been so out of it. But they all became alert again as soon as the earth became visible.

It was around one o'clock in the afternoon on a Tuesday when the ship broke through the clouds covering the sprawling city of Inner Tokyo. The familiar Nishizawa Tower, shining with sunlight, extended welcomingly into the sky.

But when the ship finally descended into its hangar inside the base beneath the Hinata house, they were met with a much less welcoming sight. The system was still going haywire, just as they had left it. Even the electrical system was affected.

"Shit, I had forgotten about that," mumbled Keroro sheepishly as the five of them exited the ship, the lights flickering and the alarm wailing demandingly.

He glanced sideways at Kululu, who was squinting around in obvious befuddlement with a crease between his eyebrows.

"We were hacked before we left to rescue you, sergeant major," Keroro informed Kululu. Giroro had already told Kululu this, he recalled. It seemed that Kululu had forgotten.

Keroro hesitated a moment, then asked, "Do you think you could take a look at the system?"

"Hm." Kululu turned his yellow-green eyes upon Keroro and exhaled slowly. "I can't see."

"Huh?" Tamama asked.

"I won't be able to enter the passcode to my lab because I can't see. I need my glasses," Kululu replied flatly.

"Ohh, right."

"Well, we'll help you get inside, and then you can get some of those spare ones that you always seem to have ready," offered Keroro, waving his hand dismissively.

Several minutes later the group was standing outside the door of Kululu's lab. "What's the passcode, soldier?" Giroro asked Kululu impatiently with his hand hovering over the dial pad.

Kululu didn't answer.

"What?"

"I... don't remember what it is...," Kululu muttered. He shifted his weight from foot to foot and absentmindedly raised his hand to his head. He slipped his fingers under the bandages that covered the wounds there.

"Oh, my god, Kululu, please don't." Keroro moved forward and pulled the sergeant major's hand down. Kululu didn't even seem to notice. He was biting his lip, deep in thought. "Uhh... try '00111001 00110110 00110110'," Kululu told Giroro slowly.

The corporal input the numbers and Kululu's door slid open.

Giroro and Keroro supported the sergeant major between them and they all edged into the room. They were immediately assaulted with a horrid smell; obviously there was food somewhere that had gone bad during Kululu's absence. Giroro made a sound of disgust.

"You shouldn't be keeping food in here," he said with disapproval and squinted around in the dim light. Kululu, ignoring or not hearing the comment, moved unsteadily across the room on his own and began rummaging through a drawer.

He quickly retrieved a spare pair of glasses identical to the ones the Rurlough had taken and placed them on his nose. He would look almost normal, Giroro thought, if it weren't for the dragging gait and the unnatural drawn look that Kululu's young face had acquired.

Kululu shuffled over to his computer and sat down clumsily in his chair while the others came to stand behind him.

He stared at the flickering red screen in front of him for a moment and then began typing. Giroro watched Kululu's fingers as they moved jerkily over the keyboard; he had obviously lost some of his dexterity.

Then, all at once, the blaring of the alarm and the flashing of the lights ceased completely and the computer screens once again glowed a tranquil blue. Kululu leaned back in his chair looking tired. "Virus," he said simply.

"It was just a virus?" Dororo asked. "We weren't being hacked...?"

"No. Just a virus." The sergeant major looked around. "You guys are all idiots."

* * *

 **Poor Kululu :'(**


	25. Chapter 25

A little while later, the platoon was sitting together on the twin couches in the Hinatas' living room, waiting for Natsumi and Fuyuki to come home from school.

They waited in silence, not having anything to say to one another. Kululu's announcement about the base had come as a shock and an embarrassment; but, Giroro reasoned with himself, if they had not believed the virus to be something more malevolent the platoon may not have left right away, may not have reached the sergeant major in time.

Giroro's leg jogged restlessly on the floor; aside from having apprehension about seeing Natsumi again after so many weeks, becoming readjusted to comfort and safety was not proving easy for him. The familiar smell of the house contrasted sharply with the memory of the previous weeks.

He glanced sideways at Kululu and was startled to see that there were tears streaming down the sergeant major's cheeks.

"Kululu...?" Giroro had only seen Kululu cry maybe three times since they had met, and at least one of those times Kululu had been drunk. The sergeant major was slumped forward and his face was expressionless.

"What's wrong with you?" Giroro asked him, feeling on edge. The others were watching now too.

Kululu didn't answer but just wiped his face on his sleeve.

Keroro, who was seated across from Giroro, caught his eye and gave him an anxious look. This just made Giroro feel more uncomfortable, so he fixed his gaze instead on the wall clock behind Keroro. It was just after three; school would be out by now.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before the platoon heard the front door opening and the Hinatas' voices came drifting down the hallway.

"I'm going to get the noodles boiling and then take a shower. Will you watch them for me?" Natsumi was saying as she came into view at the door to the living room. "Just don't let them get overcooked; I won't be long and then I can finish-" She entered the room and froze, her mouth still partially open in speech, and stared at the platoon.

Nobody dared speak. Giroro held his breath at the sight of Natsumi standing there, and the full force of how much he had missed her suddenly struck him. He ached to run to her and embrace her but he restrained himself, feeling a little silly.

Natsumi was not looking at him, nor did she seem to notice Kululu; her gaze was fixed on Keroro, who stared back apprehensively. He gulped and, with a small smile, announced bravely, "We're back, Miss Natsumi!"

This was the wrong thing to say, and in only three steps Natsumi was suddenly in front of him, her eyes glinting with fury. Keroro tried to scramble backward across Tamama but Natsumi bonked the sergeant hard on the top of the head with her fist. "BACK?! BACK FROM _WHERE?!"_ she shouted and they all winced. "HOW COULD YOU JUST LEAVE FOR WEEKS WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING?! WHAT KIND OF IDIOTS DO THAT?" She looked almost deranged; a vein in her neck pulsed dangerously.

"We went to find Kululu!" cried Keroro unhappily, squinting in discomfort.

"What?!" Natsumi asked incredulously. She turned around, her fist still on top of Keroro's head. When her eyes landed on Kululu her hand fell limply to her side. Shock registered on her face as she saw how frail he looked, his head bandaged, and she seemed unable to speak for a moment. Kululu turned his face away from her.

"What happened to you...?" she asked him, a crease between her eyebrows. Her anger at the platoon seemed to have vanished.

But before anyone could answer, Fuyuki entered the room, clearly having been drawn by the commotion. "What's going on, Sis?" he asked as he walked in.

 _"Fuyuki!"_ Keroro exclaimed with joy and clambered to the end of the couch that was nearest Fuyuki, giving his friend a watery smile. But Fuyuki did not return the greeting; he had already noticed Kululu's conspicuous presence.

"Kululu?" he said uncertainly, his eyes wide with confusion. Kululu continued to act as though the Hinatas weren't there.

" _What happened?_ " Natsumi asked again, more insistently.

Sighing heavily, Keroro turned back to her. "Why don't you two sit down?" he suggested. Natsumi, looking deeply unnerved, took a seat next to Giroro, and Fuyuki placed himself in between Keroro and Tamama. He eyed Kululu, looking concerned, but with a definite glint of curiosity in his eyes.

For over half an hour the platoon (minus Kululu) spoke in earnest, describing the harrowing details of their four-week long expedition. The Hinatas seemed to become paler with every word, and by the time they had finished, Natsumi looked sick.

"That's... _horrible,_ " she finally uttered in a small voice. Hearing the story had left a cold feeling in her chest, as if she had swallowed a stone.  
Keroro nodded at her in a slow, impressive way, his eyes closed.

They all fell into silent contemplation. "But," Fuyuki began after a moment, frowning, "I don't understand. What made the Rurlough all die at once like that?"

"I was wondering about that too, actually," said Giroro. "We're not sure why, but they all just-"

"Radiation," croaked Kululu, speaking for the first time in hours. The others all looked at him. "It's… the Rurlough... they're weak. From-from the radiation."

"What are you talking about?"

Kululu crossed his legs at the knees and pulled his arms tightly around himself before he began to explain. "The sun in the Rurlough's solar system is a black dwarf sun… it doesn't give off heat or light… and if there hadn't been another source of light, none of the life on the Rurlough's planet or any of the adjacent planets would have been possible."

Giroro shook his head. "The Rurlough's planet is completely dark. The don't have another source of light."

Kululu shot him a look and said, "Not _anymore_."

"What?"

"The planets in that region used to rely on a… uh… a supergiant sun that was positioned some seven billion miles away… in a neighboring solar system.

"It was about… um… I think it was about three billion years ago that the sun exploded. It obliterated the surrounding planets, obviously, and even though the Rurlough were far away enough to avoid destruction, massive amounts of radiation wreaked havoc on the planet's surface. It killed off most of the population and gave the rest radiation poisoning. That left them lethargic… unable to reproduce naturally… And, it eliminated their source of light and heat..."

Kululu coughed and winced in pain. "The Rurlough are cold-blooded. They need heat. That's why they retreated to the warm depths of their planet: to be near the core. But they still couldn't reproduce, so they cloned themselves instead. Now, the new generations are still sick, even though it's been almost three billion years since the sun exploded."

"I still don't understand," said Fuyuki, his brow furrowed in thought. "That still doesn't explain why they suddenly died."

Kululu didn't answer right away. He looked drained. "They screamed," he said finally. "All of them. They tried to blow out our eardrums and liquefy our brains or whatever, but they were too weak to do something like that. They're just too tired…" Kululu settled back against the couch with a sniff, obviously not wanting to speak anymore.

So there it was. They had gotten Kululu home and their questions had been answered. But no one felt any relief or closure. Each was saturated with grief, each sunk so deeply into his own thoughts that the room and those in it were forgotten. When the sergeant major weakly began crying again, no one looked at him.

* * *

 **PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT**

 **(no not really)**

 **This is the second-to-last chapter in this story, so the next chapter will be the last one :'(**

 ** _~The end of an era~_**

 **Be sure to leave a review and PM me with any questions~**


	26. Chapter 26

**Heeeeeere it is :') The last chapter. I really hope you enjoy it~**

* * *

As spring bloomed rampant across Japan, the air itself felt spiked with energy. The streets bustled with activity, people spending as much of their time outdoors as they could before the heat of summer moved in.

But for the inhabitants of the Hinata household, time seemed to move at half its normal rate. Although everyone tried to behave naturally, it was undeniable that things had changed since the platoon's return from their journey.

Dororo was rarely seen at the house, but he was hardly missed. Whenever he did happen to be there, Keroro's disposition became icy. He never spent much time in the same room as the lance corporal, and seemed to pretend that Dororo didn't exist most of the time. It was no surprise to the rest of the platoon when the time between Dororo's visits began to stretch into weeks.

Conversely, they had Kululu for company far more often than usual. He never seemed to want to spend time alone anymore. His presence, conspicuous and gloomy, was inescapable. He haunted the house like an angry ghost. He could often be found sitting on one of the couches in the living room, staring into the distance. Any attempt to communicate with him proved fruitless.

No one wanted to talk about it, but Kululu's face often showed clear signs of crying. He had begun sleeping in the living room on the couch, rather than down in the base in his own room like he normally would. The occupants of the house were often able to hear him shrieking in his sleep at night.

He had become rather spacey as well. The other members of the platoon were finding him to be forgetful and fumbling, two words that had never accurately described him before.

Though Kululu didn't let on about it, it was clear that he was constantly in pain. He moved tenderly around and seemed like he had trouble breathing sometimes. The incisions on his head were healing on schedule, but they were horrible to look at. Despite having healed a little, they still left the bandages sticky with blood.

Kululu just seemed, simply, unhappy. And there was nothing that any of them could do to help him.

As Giroro observed Kululu's misery, he couldn't help but wonder if the sergeant major still thought that it had been worth it to willingly go with the Rurlough rather than chance everyone else's lives. Giroro had considered asking him about it, but he never actually did.

* * *

The midday sun glinted cheerfully on the black metal of Giroro's gun, nearly blinding him as he cleaned it. In the comforting warmth of early May, the corporal, sitting outside in front of the ashes of the cold season's campfires, felt more relaxed than he had in a long time.

Voices floated out to him from the open sliding glass door, and Giroro listened to the lighthearted chatter for a moment before moving to sit in the doorway. Natsumi, who was fixing lunch in the kitchen, grinned when she noticed him.

"You can come all the way inside, you know, Giroro," she teased.

"I'm fine here," he replied, but he couldn't help but crack a smile. He redirected his attention to the living room, where Keroro and Tamama were chatting animatedly over the noise of the television.

Fuyuki sat across from them, reading a book. In a true gesture of friendship, he had recorded every episode of _Captain Geroro_ that Keroro had missed while he and his platoon were gone. Keroro had, of course, watched all of them in one sitting, and then had to wait until the next episode aired.

Today, Keroro's wait was over. The new episode was set to come on at four o'clock, and it was currently one minute till. A commercial's background music played benignly as Keroro waited in high anticipation for the show to start.

The only one who seemed unaffected by the cheerful atmosphere was Kululu. He sat on the opposite end of Fuyuki's couch, looking withered. But this wasn't unexpected. By now, everyone had become accustomed to Kululu's depressive behavior. Really, it would be surprising to see him happy.

Giroro observed with some satisfaction that Kululu's mood at least appeared to be stable today. At least he wasn't crying.

The show's theme song started and Keroro squealed with joy. Kululu flinched at the sound. He was so easily startled nowadays.

Keroro kissed Tamama's forehead as the opening scene began, and Kululu got up, removing himself from the commotion and heading over to where Giroro sat.

Giroro looked up when Kululu neared, but the sergeant major didn't say anything to him. He carefully stepped over Giroro's limbs, squeezing past him in the doorway.

Kululu plopped down cross-legged on the grass in front of Giroro, who avoided eye contact and continued cleaning his gun. Leaning back on his hands, Kululu said, "Thank you."

"For what?" Giroro asked.

Kululu didn't reply, but after a few moments he said, "I like you guys."

Giroro quietly gave a perfunctory response. Kululu waved a gnat away from his face and softly sighed.

"I'm glad that…," Kululu said, "t-that I did it. You… were worth it."

Giroro's hands went still on the weapon. Did Kululu somehow know that he had been wondering about this?

Kululu sniffed and Giroro finally looked up at him, expecting to see him crying. But Kululu's expression was placid. He had his face turned up toward the sky, looking thoughtful, his hair trembling slightly in the breeze.

Giroro looked back down at the weapon in his lap and picked up his cleaning cloth again. But he just held it in his hand, feeling uncomfortable. Kululu's presence was too distracting, and the gun was as clean as it was going to get anyway.

"You were too," Giroro mumbled almost incoherently.

Kululu faced his companion again, his lenses glinting in the sun like the flash of a camera.

"What was that?" he asked.

Giroro stood, his mouth shut tight. He strode around Kululu, put the gun away in his tent, and headed back toward the house. When he reached the door, he stopped. He looked at Kululu and gave him a curt nod before turning and heading inside.

"Lunch is ready, Giroro," Natsumi told him as he entered the house. As he mumbled a thank-you, she glanced past him and noticed Kululu sitting alone in the backyard.

She stared at him until Giroro finally asked, "What?"

"Nothing." She grinned in a melancholy sort of way. "I just could have sworn he was smiling."

* * *

 **Well, there you go. Kululu isn't the happiest duck in the pond, but he's on the road to recovery to at least be closer to normal again. Though, I doubt that this is really the kind of thing that Kululu can ever recover from. His life is going to be different forever. He essentially sacrificed his mind, his beautiful, intelligent mind, for the other's safety. It was a very brave thing for him to do. At least he thinks it was worth it.**

 **I would like to thank everyone for sticking through to the end, it means a lot. I really hope you guys enjoyed our fic, it was a pleasure to write it :)**


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